


Happy Endings are Complicated

by MazeEternal



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adopted Peter Parker, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Anxious Peter Parker, Autistic Morgan Stark, Big Brother Peter Parker, Dad!Tony, F/M, Fix-It, Fuck that movie, I'll add more character tags as I write, I'm so mad about it, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Oh May dies, Parent Pepper Potts, Parent Tony Stark, Pepper is Mom, Pepper is a TIRED MOM, Tony Stark is dad, Tony has a truckload of kids, background Romanorogers, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2020-02-18 14:24:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 144,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18701413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MazeEternal/pseuds/MazeEternal
Summary: END GAME SPOILERSAfter the snap, Tony survives because he does. He recovers slowly, it's mere weeks after that, however, and the Starks are in New York for business and helping set everything back up. Then Peter's Aunt dies and Tony and Pepper end up with a second child who is grieving and insecure. Things only get weirder from there. Much weirder. (Read: Tony ends up with like 4 kids and Pepper is a Tired Mom(TM)Or; The One Where Tony is the Best Dad and the Avengers are Family.Or, Or; The one where End Game's ending was bullshit and I wanted fluff and an adopted Peter AU so here it is.





	1. The Bad Day

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, so I just watched End Game and it sent me into an emotional spiral, this is what arose. Enjoy?

Chapter One: The Bad Day

“Tony,” Pepper’s voice sounded distant, but he knew what it meant; it _meant_ that he had survived, albeit with a fair amount of damage, and that he had somehow _recovered_. “Tony, you need to wake up.”

“God, wasn’t there a time when all you wanted me to do was sleep?” he groaned and opened one eye. “You’re beautiful and I love you, by the way.”

 _That_ was something he never got tired of saying. Not ever.

She smiled and it lit up his whole world, “I love you too.”

“Daddy!” Morgan called as she careened into the room, she was still in her pajamas.

“Baby!” he echoed far more cheerfully than he _ever_ would have thought possible this early in the morning.

“I love you Daddy.”

“I love you too,” Tony’s heart was so full as he held his little girl.

“Tony, I need to run to the office,” Pepper cut in as she kissed both of their heads. “I’ll be back for lunch.”

“Daddy, I don’t like New York,” Morgan sighed far too heavily for a five-year-old. “Mommy always works.”

Pepper’s face fell, but he held their daughter closer. “Baby, Mommy is home for lunchtime and at suppertime and she even has breakfast with you a lot. Mommy also does family movie night, and we go for walks in the park and we play games—Mommy is here a lot.”

The little girl’s face lit up, “And you’re here a lot too! We play lots of games and watch cartoons and work in the workshop!”

“Exactly, and you know we both love you _very much_ ,” Pepper insisted as she dropped another kiss on the little girl’s forehead. “Always.”

Morgan nodded emphatically. “Yes Mommy.”

“And before you know it, we’ll be back at the cabin for a few weeks. I promise.” Tony kissed his daughter’s cheek. “You’ll see.”

The grin she gave him made his heart swell several sizes. “And, we can take Petey too?”

Pepper laughed, “If his aunty says yes, then yes we can take him.”

Tony grinned broadly. His daughter and his son—well, his sort of son—were thick as thieves, spending time with them was one of his favorite things. The city was still getting back on its feet, but with summer in full swing for at least another three weeks, Peter would be being Spider-Man and enjoying freedom to his geeky heart’s content.

“This is gonna be a good day!” Morgan told him excitedly as Pepper bid them farewell and reminded them to eat.

 

It was _not_ a good day.

In fact, crisis hit right before supper. At first, things had gone very smoothly; FRIDAY had kept him and Morgan on schedule in terms of food, play time, naptime, and when they both needed to get out of the workshop and breathe some fresh air. DUM-E had been watching Morgan for most of the time that Tony had taken it upon himself to repair Steve’s shield.

 _First he loses the damn thing like five hundred times,_ then _he breaks it?_

It had all been going smoothly, really. Pepper was back at five, which was a little earlier than usual, but he and Morgan were already making supper.

“Daddy I don’t think we need that much garlic,” his daughter said as she looked up from her STARKpad that held the recipe she had been reading.

“Baby, garlic is the spice of life,” he retorted, but stopped adding any more of it anyway.

Morgan giggled, “Daddy, that’s _variety_ not garlic.”

“Oooooh! Is that so?” Tony grinned back at her, she was such a _joy_.

“Are you two doing science experiments in my kitchen?” Pepper asked mock suspiciously as she reached the counter where Morgan was sitting.

“No!” he answered at the same time as his daughter, and for good measure added the most innocent face he could muster; he could see Morgan doing the same out of the corner of his eye.

“We’re cooking!” the little girl exclaimed throwing her arms up.

“Well, maybe I can help,” Pepper laughed and kissed their daughter. “So that it’s edible.”

“Hey!” he was about to retort that she had somehow managed to burn water once, but his phone rang.

It was playing the Star Wars theme, Peter’s favorite. “Hey Kiddo, you dropping by for supper?”

“Um, Mr. Stark—Mr. Stark, Peter needs your help,” this was _not_ Peter, it was his friend Ned.

“Ted? Where’s Peter? What’s going on?” Force of habit he said the kid’s name wrong, but the panic was starting to build.

“He’s okay, we’re at the hospital, but—”

Pepper looked alarmed, if his words hadn’t given him away, his tone of voice definitely wasn’t calm. Morgan had grown quiet and was reaching for her mother.

“What? Is he okay? What are the doctor’s saying? Where’s his aunt?”

“He’s not hurt physically,” Ned said quickly, the kid didn’t sound very sure of himself. “It’s May, she—she was in a car accident and—Mr. Stark, she died on impact.”

 _Oh God_.

“Mr. Stark? Mr. Stark social workers are here; they’re trying to figure out what to do with Peter. He needs your help.”

_Oh God, my kid._

“I’m on my way, Ned don’t let them do anything. I am coming. I’m coming and don’t let them do anything or I’m going to sue them until they won’t even have claim to their own pocket lint, you hear me?”

Ned was definitely scared and crying, but he said. “Yes, sir.”

“Stay with Peter, I’ll be there soon,” Tony’s heart was beating so fast he was terrified it was going to stop as he hung up.

“Tony—”

“Daddy, is Petey okay?” Morgan’s eyes were filled with fear.

He took a breath. “Petey will be okay, Baby. You just need to be a little bit brave right now, okay?”

Morgan nodded. “I can be the bravest.”

“Good, we’re gonna need it, Maguna. Pepper—” he blinked, she was already on the phone and tapping away at Morgan’s STARKpad.

“Yes, I need to hire your best custody lawyers, money is no object,” Pepper Potts Stark had donned her ‘I’m getting shit done’ face. “Please hold, I’ll be right with you with further instructions.”

“Pepper—”

“Tony, fill in the gaps please?” She looked at him expectantly.

He took a deep breath. “Peter’s aunt just died in a car crash, the kid has no family, social workers are at the hospital. We need—”

“—to adopt him. Got it.” Pepper nodded and Tony realized that Pepper had not donned her normal ‘I’m getting shit done’ face that she had always used when he needed damage control, Pepper Potts Stark was a mother who absolutely needed to make sure her child was safe. “What are you waiting for? Go! I’ve got this. And her.”

Tony blinked. “Right! Yes. Okay. Maguna be good for Mommy and Petey and I will be back soon.”

He was in the elevator before he realized he needed to call Happy. “Happy? I need you to—”

“I’m already outside Boss.”

The drive wasn’t a pleasant one; Happy was desperate to get them there as fast as he could, as desperate as Tony himself. He felt a burning rage within him against Thanos; due to the snap he’d been forced to do, Tony couldn’t really _be_ Iron Man anymore. The strain on his body was too great and although he _was_ healing, it wasn’t likely that he would be superhero-ing again. Ever. Thus flying to the hospital wasn’t an option.

“What if he hates me?” the thought hit him like a ton of bricks. “What if he doesn’t want to be adopted? Oh God, Happy, what if—”

“Boss,” Happy’s tone was both stressed and incredibly unimpressed. “the kid is your kid. He _has_ already been your kid for ages. He loves you and right now you need to remember that he needs comfort. He just lost his aunt. The person who raised him. Tony, you’ll know what to say.”

“How could I possibly know what to say?” the panic was definitely rising.

The car stopped in front of the hospital and Happy turned to look at him. “The same way you know what to say when Pepper and Morgan have nightmares.”

“Right, but this isn’t a nightmare, this is—”

“Boss, you’re a Dad now. You’re Dad, for better or for worse, and you’re definitely doing good,” his long time friend through many dangers and insanities was looking at him with an expression that he didn’t recognize. “Just go in there and scare the hell out of those social workers until I can get Pepper and the lawyers down here to straighten stuff out.”

“Right, yeah, okay.”

 

Tony _hated_ hospitals. He officially never wanted to set foot in one ever again. The lights, the noises, all the people—God this was hell.

“Mr. Stark!” Ned waved him over.

He was standing next to Peter, who was curled into an uncomfortable hospital chair and had definitely been crying. Peter looked worse than Tony had ever seen him; he looked so young, with red blotchy eyes and cheeks, he was shaking and scared.

 _My kid_. Tony’s dad instincts went into overdrive. “Hey, hey, Kid, I’ve got you,” and down onto his knees, on the dirty hospital floor he went as he knelt in front of his son. “I’ve got you, okay? I’m gonna do everything I can to make it better.”

“Mr—Mr—Ton--Dad,” Peter chocked as he finally landed on the title he’d been having near misses with for the last few weeks. “Dad, I lost her. She’s _gone_ , she _left_ me.”

“Oh Kid, she didn’t do it on purpose,” he put his arms around Peter. “She’d never leave you on purpose, kiddo. I’ve got you, okay? I’ve got you. You’re gonna be okay.”

“I’m sorry,” Peter sobbed into his shoulder. “I’m sorry, I can’t stop. I know you’re not my Da—”

“You don’t have to apologize, I’ve got you. You can call me whatever you want, okay? You’re coming home with me and we’re gonna sort this all out. Okay? I’m gonna fix this as much as I can. Deep breaths, buddy, deep breaths.”

Peter complied, inhaling and exhaling heartbreaking shuddering breaths. “O-okay.”

“Mr. Stark, I’m sorry but I can’t simply allow you to take this boy—” a high pitched voice cut through Tony’s shushing and comforting.

“Excuse me? Who the hell are you?” He didn’t even bother looking at whoever the woman was as he kept his arms around Peter.

“She’s—she’s Mrs. Gordon, a s-social worker,” Peter chocked out.

“That’s right, I am the legal representative in charge of Peter Parker’s care,” the woman said from behind him.

“Yeah well, I am Dad.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hope that wasn't too painful. Please let me know what you think, all constructive criticism is appreciated. Also ideas for what shenanigans can arise with Morgan and Peter, would be great.  
> I don't know what the update schedule on this is going to be, but I hope something fairly regular?
> 
> Again, I live for comments.


	2. I am Dad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Pepper bring Peter home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A-and more fluff and feels.
> 
> Also guys, your comments mean everything to me and thank you all so so so much! I haven’t replied to anyone because I just don’t know how to express all my gratitude. Thank you!

Chapter Two: I am Dad

            Traffic was so bad, that Pepper gave up trying to get cars and people to the hospital, instead she contacted all the lawyers and people involved, informing them that they needed to meet her at Stark Tower as soon as physically possible.

            “Mrs. Stark, I don’t know if this is strictly—”

            “I will be sending a car or a helicopter to pick you up, if you cannot find your own way here within the next two hours, is that agreeable?” she was so done with this bullshit.

            “Yes, ma’am,” the man on the other end had finally understood her tone.

            “Excellent,” she was already paging one of the R&D interns from floor 45 as she motioned for Morgan to follow her to the elevator.

            “Mommy, what’s happening?” Morgan was such precious child, Pepper was floored by how calm she was being in this time of total and complete crisis.

            She took a deep breath, “Mommy needs to go get a few things sorted out at the hospital so we can bring Peter home, okay? So you’re going to stay with Jimmy and Hannah in R&D until Daddy and I get home.”

            “Okay,” Morgan nodded. “But you’re bringing Petey home, right?”

            “Yes, Petey is safest with you, me, and Daddy. So, Daddy and I are doing everything we can to make sure he’s safe.”

            Morgan looked thoughtful as they exited the elevator. “What can I do to make Petey safe?”

            Pepper smiled at her daughter; she was just like Tony, every little detail about this little girl was her father, right down to her self-sacrificing nature. “You can be ready to give him lots of special Morgan hugs when he needs them.”

            “I can do that!”

            “Great, you go ahead, love, okay? Mommy has to get back upstairs so she can get to the hospital.”

           

            Pepper arrived half an hour after Tony had explained to Mrs. Gordon that he was Peter’s closest parental figure available and that she _should_ let the boy go with him. He was going over it again for the eleven millionth time when his wife walked in.

            “You must be Mrs. Gordon,” the Rescue suit was still retracting as Pepper’s heels clicked on the tiled floors. “I have the paperwork from May Parker’s attorney naming Tony as Peter’s guardian in case of any untimely accidents that would prevent her from being available. I know that you’ll want more details and to speak with our own representatives and such, but Peter has been through a lot, as you can tell and we would really like to take our son home now.”

            Peter glanced up at him with wide eyes and mouthed, _Our son?_

            Tony nodded and mouthed back, _Uh, yeah. If I’m Dad, then she’s definitely Mom_.

            A faint smile appeared on the exhausted teen’s lips, it disappeared as quickly as it came, but Tony couldn’t help but feel like it was a victory of sorts.

            “Peter,” Mrs. Gordon looked uncertain. “Can you please confirm to me that you want to go with them?”

            Ned, who had been alternating between talking rapidly and being very quiet, said, “Uh, Lady, Tony Stark has been comforting him for like forty-five minutes and he called him his Dad, and you think he _doesn’t_ want to go with him?”

            “I need a verbal confirmation, Mr. Leeds.” Although, admittedly, Mrs. Gordon did look a little more at ease having looked at Pepper’s documentation and taking a better look at Peter now.

            “Yes, Mrs. Gordon,” Peter said shakily. “I’d like to go now.”

            The woman nodded.

            Pepper turned to her, “Our attorneys and such will be available to you at Stark Tower in about two hours. You can sort through everything and we’ll deal with all of the administration after we’ve gotten Peter into bed.”

            The social worker nodded again. “I do not wish to take the boy away from you, I’m simply trying to do my job as best as I can.”

            “I know, Mrs. Gordon, and we’re grateful for you trying to do things by the book,” Pepper said as she motioned for Tony to follow her with Peter. “We’ll see you later.”

            Tony wasn’t entirely sure where Happy had been for the past almost hour, but the car was out front and a very welcome sight as the three of them piled in with Peter sitting between he and Pepper.

            “You’re gonna be okay, Kid,” he kept saying softly as Happy inched them through traffic.

           

            Peter had cried himself out and was dozing against Tony’s chest in the backseat as they headed home. Pepper was still tapping away at her tablet, but she occasionally passed a hand through Peter’s hair as if to reassure herself that he was there and okay.

            “Honey,” he asked softly. “Where’s Morgan?”

            Pepper looked up, “With Jimmy and Hannah in R&D, I couldn’t think of anyone I wanted to come up to the penthouse to watch her. She’s alright, I think.”

            Tony nodded. “What are we gonna do?”

            “About?” his wife looked at him uncertainly. “Peter? Well, we’ll adopt him, have a funeral for May, I’ll get business done here, and we’ll pack up and head back to the cabin where it’s quiet.”

            “That simple, huh?” he wished he felt as sure about their plans as she seemed to be.

            Pepper rested a hand on his arm, somehow transferring some of her strength to him. “He’s a grieving teenager, Tony. Nothing is going to be simple. He’s lost two sets of parents, died, nearly lost you, and was also turned into a superhero, most of that within the space of two years. He’ll need us.”

            He sighed and tightened his arms around the kid, “He called me Dad today.”

            “Finally,” she chuckled. “He _will_ be okay. We’ll work it out.”

            “We’ll need to come back to New York in the fall,” he said suddenly. “He’s going to need to come back for school, and his friends, and Morgan’s starting school so she might as well go to school here too.”

            Pepper was looking at him funny.

            “What? Is there something on my face?”

            She shook her head. “Look at you, thinking like a dad.”

            “Well I am one,” he tried to keep the hurt out of his voice, failing miserably. “I have been one for almost five years.”

            Pepper shook her head. “No, I didn’t mean it like that. I meant that it just never gets old watching you tackle logistical problems like your children’s schooling the same way you take on problems like saving the whole universe.”

            He grinned. “Yeah well, they’re the real heroes, you know? The ones that are gonna change the world someday.”

            His wife smiled and leaned over to kiss his cheek. “You’re a great father, Tony. Don’t you dare forget it.”

 

            Pepper handled the lawyers. Pepper handled the social workers. Pepper made sure everyone understood that Peter was part of their family and that they wouldn’t be tolerating any leakage to the press. Her threat was even scarier than Tony’s pocket lint line.

            But Tony…Tony heard it all second hand from FRIDAY when he watched the footage later that night. He hadn’t even gone down to the conference room to sign anything, Pepper had brought it upstairs before heading back down to finalize things.

            No, Tony Stark had gone into full Dad Mode the moment he’d gently woken Peter. “Hey Kiddo, we’re home. C’mon, let’s go up and see Maguna and get some food into you.”

            “Mr. Stark?” the kid had been groggy, but he’d followed, still exhausted from crying, still unsure what was going on.

            “Peter,” Pepper had said quietly in the elevator, “Tony and I are going to take care of everything, is that alright?”

            The kid had looked so unsure and had glanced up at Tony as if he’d know what to say.

            “Hey, Kiddo, Pep and I are going to adopt you. You’ll get to sort out the logistics of what that means when you’re ready, but we’re getting custody so no one can ever take you away from us. That sound alright?”

            Peter had nodded wordlessly and leaned closer into his side.

            Pepper had gotten off at R&D to pry their daughter away from the gadgets and toys being developed there. Tony took Peter upstairs and settled the kid into the couch.

            “I know you’re not okay,” he said to the very silent teenager, “but talk to me Kid.”

            Peter sighed. “I just don’t know—what’s going to happen to me?”

            “Well, you’re going to stay with Pepper, Morgan, and me. We’ll wrap business up here, then go hide out at the Lake House for a while, rest, heal, and then we’ll all be back here for school and work in the fall,” Tony said matter-of-factly, he sounded a lot more confident than he felt, but when he’d been a teenager that had just lost his Mom and Dad, he had wanted someone to be matter-of-fact, he had desperately needed someone to turn to for answers. “And nothing you don’t want to happen will happen.”

            The boy nodded and sniffled. “What about the funeral? The apartment? All the stuff—”

            He was spiraling, Tony couldn’t let Peter fall into that, he wouldn’t let him. “Hey, hey, deep breaths. One thing at a time. Remember what you said to me at the hospital?”

            Peter blinked, but did as instructed and took shaky, but deep breaths.

            “What did you call me at the hospital?” Tony said patiently.

            “Dad?” a blush rose to the teenagers already blotchy cheeks.

            “That’s right,” he nodded encouragingly. “You called me Dad, and dads take care of things, they keep you safe. Dads are responsible for funerals, and storage, and organizing stuff. That’s me. I am Dad.”

            A giggle rose from the kid in the crook of his arm. “Irondad.”

            Tony snorted. “Sure, yeah, I am Irondad.”

            The laughter wasn’t much. It didn’t last long and Tony knew that a wall of guilt lay behind it, but it was enough to get Peter through. At least for a little while.

            “Petey!” a happy shriek erupted from the elevator as a tiny brunet missile launched herself at Peter.

            “Umph! Hey Morg, you nearly hit terminal velocity there, baby sis.”

            “I love you one thousand, Petey. No TWO thousand!” the little girl said, her head still buried into Peter’s hoodie.

            Tony didn’t have the heart to point out that that was _dangerously_ close to how much she loved _him_. No, he couldn’t say anything snarky when Peter was smiling and holding tightly to Morgan as if he would never let go.

            “Cheese Burgers just arrived,” Pepper said as she dropped the bag on the coffee table in front of them. “Everyone’s allowed to eat on the couch just this _once_.”

            “Really?” both kids looked at her with wide eyes.

            “Yes, really,” she smirked and kissed Peter on the forehead, then Morgan. “I have to go downstairs because people are arriving and I need to sort it out.”

            “Pepper, I’m so—” Peter’s face was apologetic.

            “Don’t you dare,” she leveled him with a stern glare. “Not now, not ever. You are not a burden, you are not a bother, and I will always love you and do what I need to in order for you to be safe and well taken care of. Do I make myself clear, Peter?”

            Peter nodded. “Yes, Pepper.”

            “Good, then I’m going to go make sure that everything runs smoothly down there. Tony, can you get the kids to bed at a reasonable hour?”

            “For a kiss?” he grinned.

            Then there was a chorus of: “Ewwwww!” from the two kids.

            Pepper rolled her eyes, “Why don’t you walk me to the elevator?”

            One kiss and a promise to make sure both kids were safely in bed by eight later, Tony found himself wrestling an almost five year old into the master bathtub at seven thirty, whilst having FRIDAY monitor Peter’s status on getting ready for bed.

            “Daddy, I don’t want to say good night to Petey!” Morgan whined.

            He sighed, “We’re going to say good night to Petey anyways because everyone needs sleep.”

            That didn’t go as planned, two sets of very brown, very puppy-dog-like eyes ensured that Tony was cuddled up in the couch with his daughter in his lap and Peter curled into his left side. Both of them had fallen asleep fifteen minutes into Toy Story, which was ridiculous, but at least they were resting.

            “ _This_ is ‘Yes, Honey, I’ll put them to bed at eight’?” Pepper whispered mock angrily, but her smile and the laughter in her eyes gave her away.

            “They ganged up on me,” he whispered back. “And they’re both asleep, have been for the past hour, but I couldn’t get up.”

            His wife smiled and nodded. “Okay, okay. Give me Morgan, I’ll put her down while you get Pete into bed.”

            It had been a little while since Tony had hefted anything heavier than his four-and-a-half-year-old, but Peter was gangly and if he woke up, he might cry again, it was much better to carry him to bed.

So he did.

Pepper raised an eyebrow when she caught sight of him carrying the fifteen year old.

He couldn’t help but mouth, _I am Irondad._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope that was alright and you guys liked it?  
> Comments are basically my life source so please please comment if you liked it.  
> Hopefully I'll come up with more to add to this soon, ideas are welcome.


	3. Chapter Three: Figuring Things Out with Mom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter wakes up the next day and has some heart to hearts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the chapter titles and summaries are NOT A+ or anything, but there has been a lot of love so here's chapter three.
> 
> Again, thank you so so so much to everyone who commented, those comments mean the world to me and keep me writing. The more comments the more I feel like writing and thus the quicker the chapters go up (shameless request for more instant gratification).

Chapter Three: Funerals and Figuring Things Out

            Morgan did _not_ like New York. It was loud, she couldn’t play outside as much as at home, and bad things seemed to happen in New York. The only good thing about New York was that Petey was here.

            _Petey is sad_. She thought as she sat on her bed in the tower.

            Daddy had said that she was a little bit like a princess in a tower, but that there was no dragon and that she could come and go from the tower with an adult—so not really like a princess in a tower at all…

            Morgan didn’t like it when her brother was sad, Petey should always, always, always be happy because he was the best. He played with her, even when she thought that maybe her games were a little too simple for a big kid like Petey, and he taught her things and Daddy let her play in the lab more when Petey was around.

            _Mommy said to give him hugs_. That was something she could do.

            “FWIDAY?” she called softly.

            “Yes, Ms. Stark?” came the soft voice of the AI.

            She liked FRIDAY, Daddy said that FRIDAY knew almost everything. “What time is it?”

            “It’s 5:24AM, Ms. Stark.”

            “That’s early,” maybe it was too early to give Petey hugs.

            FRIDAY was so smart; she almost always knew what Morgan was thinking too! “It is very early, Ms. Stark, but your brother appears to be awake.”

            “Thank you, FWIDAY. Can you turn on the night lights, please?”

            “Of course.”

            The dim lights in the baseboards turned on, Morgan liked them a lot, they helped her get where she needed to go when it was dark. She wasn’t _afraid_ or anything, but she just didn’t _like_ the dark. It made things hard to see. Still, she grabbed her Iron Man stuffy just in case. With Daddy there, it would be easier to feel safe even if she couldn’t see anything.

            Petey’s room was just next door so it wasn’t hard to get there, she reached up and turned the door knob.

            “Petey?” she called quietly as she stepped into the room.

            Her brother was sitting on his bed with the lamp on, he was just staring at the wall. “Morg? What are you doing up so early, baby sis?”

            “Wanted to see you,” she said simply as she ran over and climbed into his lap. “You’re sad and Mommy said that if I gave you hugs, I could help.”

            Her brother’s face looked kind of funny, but he pulled her into a big hug and smushed her against his chest. She could hear his heart beating fast.

            “Petey, Mommy and Daddy didn’t tell me why you’re sad,” Morgan said quietly.

            The arms around her tightened a little and he didn’t say anything for a little while, but Morgan knew to be patient; Daddy sometimes didn’t answer her questions right away, but the answer always came.

            Petey took a deep breath. “Morg, you remember my Aunty May who I live with?”

            She pulled back a little and nodded, Petey’s face was making that funny expression again. “Yeah?”

            “She—she died yesterday,” he said softly. “That means that she had to go away and she won’t be coming back.”

            _Oh no_. Morgan couldn’t imagine Mommy, Daddy, Happy, Uncle Rhodey, and definitely not Petey going away and never coming back. “Are you going away and never coming back too?”

            Her brother blinked. “What? No, no. Morg, I’m right here and I’m not going anywhere. Um, neither are your Mom and Dad.”

            “Okay, good,” if Petey said that their family wasn’t going anywhere, then she trusted him. “Mommy said that you were safe with her and Daddy and me, so you’re living with us now.”

            He nodded. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

            “I’m sorry you miss your Aunty May, Petey. I don’t want anyone I love to go away and not come back,” it sounded so sad. “Why did she go away?”

            “I don’t know, Morg. Dad said she didn’t do it on purpose,” Petey didn’t sound sure and tears welled up in his eyes. “She was driving and another car hit hers. It just feels like everyone I love leaves me.”

            _No! Petey can’t cry._ Morgan threw her arms around him. “I’m never leaving you. And I love you two-whole-thousand. And Daddy loves you too, and Mommy loves you, and you’re staying here, okay?”

            “Okay, Morg. I’ll stay here.”

 

            Tony felt wakefulness take hold of him and he wasn’t particularly impressed with it. Still, he rolled over and Pepper was there, curled up and warm in the blankets of their bed.

            _Better me than her,_ he thought dropping a kiss on her temple.

            She had been up late figuring stuff out with the attorneys and even later fiddling around with her tablet and contemplating funeral arrangements. He’d been helping her, but really the kids and the trip to the hospital had taken up most of his emotional reserve and he hadn’t had the slightest clue what to do about the funeral. His parents’ had been arranged by other people.

            _The kids._ That thought got him moving.

            He grabbed his dressing gown and slipped his feet into his slippers before making his way to Morgan’s room. “FRIDAY, what time is it?”

            “It is 7:53AM, Boss.”

            “Thanks,” he pushed his daughter’s bedroom door open; it was a small miracle neither she nor Pepper were awake yet.

            Empty.

            His blood ran cold. “FRIDAY, where is Morgan?”

            “She is in Peter’s room, Boss.”

            _Oh_. “Thanks.”

            He turned and moved to his son’s room, it was strange how easily that thought came to him, but not wholly unexpected or unwelcome.

            The kids were asleep. Tony was sure his heart would melt. Peter was curled with his body around Morgan, his back towards the room, keeping the little girl safely between the wall and himself. Morgan had her arms wrapped around her brother and was cuddled into his chest, her head over his heart, as if somehow she was trying to protect him with her too small body. The two were wrapped in Peter’s Iron Man comforter and FRIDAY—Tony was sure—had lit up the base boards and turned the rest of the lights off, bathing the room in a soft glow so as to not disturb the children, but not leaving them entirely in the dark either.

            “They’re so precious,” Pepper’s voiced softly drifted from beside him. “Let’s let them sleep in.”

            Tony nodded and closed the door. “Sorry I woke you.”

            His wife shook her head, “No, it’s fine. I was waking up anyway, couldn’t figure out why you left the bed though,” she chuckled.

            Tony wrapped her up in a hug and pressed a kiss to her lips. He _loved_ this woman.

            When she pulled away, Pepper murmured softly. “They’re going to wake up, we should start breakfast.”

            “Yeah, let’s do chocolate chip pancakes; Peter loves those.”

 

            “Petey,” Morgan was shaking him. “Petey, come _on_!”

            “Yeah, Morg, okay,” Peter reluctantly pulled himself out of bed. “Okay, okay.”

            It was slowly sinking in that May was gone, and it _hurt_. Peter wasn’t sure how to cope or where he belonged anymore. Everything was turned on its head, what was he going to do?

            “Petey, are you okay? FWIDAY what’s wrong with Petey?” Morgan called up to the ceiling expectantly.

            “Peter appears to have an accelerated heart rate, I might infer based on my scan that your brother is feeling sad or afraid, Ms. Stark.”

            He blushed and turned to her. “Morg, I’m okay—”

            She cut him off by giving him a hug. “Petey, you’re staying with me, and Mommy and Daddy are going to make everything better. Okay?”

            His conversation with Morgan earlier had really helped. Even if things were still unclear and painful, he knew she was right. He was loved here and Tony and Pepper were going to fix things.

            “Okay, baby sis. Let’s go find something for breakfast, yeah? FRIDAY, what time is it?”

            “Breakfast! I want pancakes, maybe we can ask Daddy for chocolate chip ones,” his little sister was the best; he knew for a fact that Morgan preferred French toast for breakfast, but that _she_ knew his favorite breakfast was chocolate chip pancakes.

            “It’s 8:28AM, Peter. Good Morning!” FRIDAY replied as they walked out of his room.

            They found Tony and Pepper in the kitchen, in their pajamas, covered in flour and bickering over the appropriate amount of chocolate chips to put into each pancake.

            “Smiley faces are a great design for pancakes, Tony!” Pepper was saying as she tried (and failed) to keep the bag of chocolate chips out of her husband’s reach.

            Tony was adamantly shaking his head, “That makes it so that the chips are all uneven and there’s more chocolate in one place and none in the others.”

            “Daddy’s right, Mommy,” Morgan piped up as she rushed to her father with her arms already up for him to pick her up.

            Tony bent down and scooped her up like it was the most natural thing in the world, but Peter caught the wince he made just for a second; Iron Man was definitely no longer a possibility, even as Tony turned to Pepper and repeated. “Daddy’s right, Mommy.”

            “But smiley faces are fun too,” Peter grinned at Pepper.

            “See?” she reached out for Peter to come give her a hug, which he did. “Smiley faces are fun too!”

            “Why don’t we do half smiley faces, half perfectly spaced, even chocolate chips?” Peter suggested from under Pepper’s arm.

 

            Breakfast went smoothly enough once they decided on _how_ to make it. Morgan spent an incredible amount of time hanging onto Peter, but that wasn’t terribly uncommon for the duo. Still, Pepper wasn’t entirely sure _how_ she was going to get him alone long enough to talk about the funeral.

            Tony had been sitting with the kids, they had just finished watching Toy Story, “Hey, Maguna, want to go down to the lab and play with DUM-E?”

            “Yes! C’mon Petey, let’s go play,” she tugged on Peter’s arm.

            “Actually, Baby, I think Mommy wants to have a word with Petey, but he’ll come join us as soon as they’re done,” her husband _was_ a genius. “C’mon Maguna, let’s go.”

            Tony dropped a kiss on Peter’s head and picked their daughter up before making his way towards the stairs to his workshop.

            “Be careful on the stairs, Tony,” she called as she sat down beside Peter.

            “I’m fine!” he called back.

            Peter was staring after them worriedly, “He’s not taking it easy, is he?”

            Pepper’s heart clenched, Peter had lost so many people in his young life, “He’s taking it as easy as Tony Stark _can_ take it. It’s not as easy as you or I would like, but I learned that it’s impossible to get him to stop trying to be the very best he can be. If it’s in his power, he’ll just make it happen.”

            “I just worry about him,” Peter said softly turning to look at her.

            “I know, honey, but it’s going to be okay. He’s not going anywhere, and neither am I,” she rested a hand on Peter’s arm. “I promise.”

            Peter swallowed. “Everyone keeps leaving—”

            “We won’t, Peter, we’re going to try to be here forever.”

            The teenager looked up at her with hopeful eyes, “I’m just scared, Tony is great, he’s so strong and he knows what to do and now he’s fragile and I’m scared that he’s going to leave because he—”

            “—’s your dad,” Pepper finished with a smile. “I know that you want him here forever and he wants to be here for you, forever. So we’re all going to try to make that happen, okay?”

            “Okay,” Peter took a breath and leaned into her proffered hug. “You’re really good at this Pepper, you’re so great. Tony said that—that if he’s Dad then…then you’re…”

            “Then, what sweetie?” she knew what he was going to say, but if he couldn’t say it, then she definitely wasn’t going to force it upon him.

            “Then you’re Mom,” he chocked out.

            Pepper tightened her arms around him. “That’s true, you don’t have to call me Mom if you don’t want to. I can just be Pepper and that would make me happy forever, okay Pete?”

            “But,” he pulled back and looked her in the eyes his were full of unshed tears. “But you do all the Mom things, you make breakfast, and you tease Tony, and you kiss Morgan and me on the head, and you’re _here_ right now. You’re here making me feel better and telling me it’s going to be okay and I trust you, I know you’re gonna make it okay because you’re—Well, you’re Mom, Pepper.”

            It was her turn to tear up. “I would be absolutely honoured to be your Mom, Peter.”

            Her son gave her the tightest hug.

            “Sweetie, there are a few things we need to work out,” she said after a little while of running her fingers through Peter’s curls.

            “Yeah?” he didn’t make a move to get up so she didn’t shift.

            “Well, we can start with the adoption; it’s possible for you to change your name if you want to.”

            “Change my name?” Peter sounded confused as pulled himself back up to full height. “To what?”

            “Well, since we adopted you, you might want to consider being named Peter Benjamin Parker Stark, for example?” she said carefully. “Just so that it’s easier when the day comes for the company to change hands.”

            Peter double blinked. “Company—what?”

            “We’re talking way in the future, honey. Right now, we’re just wondering if you want to add Stark to your name or not,” maybe she shouldn’t have mentioned that eventuality.

            Peter nodded, “Um, well if you’re my Mom and Dad, I guess it makes sense and that way we all have the same last name, right?”

            Pepper smiled and pulled out her tablet to begin composing the necessary emails. “Exactly.”

            There was a pause. “Pep—Mom, you and Dad are really going to add me to the inheritance?”

            She blinked and looked up from the STARKpad, “Peter, you’re already in the will as an heir to SI.”

            “What?” the shock in his eyes was almost heartbreaking. “But Morgan—”

            “You have been for—well, years now,” Pepper admitted. “Tony would never leave you out simply because you have a sister.”

            “Oh—Okay…Wow.”

            “We also need to talk about funeral planning,” Pepper said softly. “Tony and I can take care of most or all of it, if you want. I just wanted to know if there was anything special to be done or any special people who needed to be informed?”

            Peter swallowed audibly. “Um, she—she really liked daisies, so maybe we could have a lot of those?”

            “Of course, I’ll make sure.”

            “A-and, um, she went to an art class once a week…those people might need to know. But—but I think that’s it,” he was crying softly and hiccupping as he continued. “I-I’m sorry, Pe—Mom, I know it’s a lot and—”

            She reached over and hugged her son again. “Peter, you’re doing so well. I’m sorry you’re hurting, sweetie, I’m sorry I can’t fix it or make it stop. You’re always welcome and you’re always, always going to be part of this family. There is _nothing_ I wouldn’t do for you.”

            “Because you’re Mom?” he asked a little uncertainly.

            “Yes,” she smiled down at him. “Because I am Ironmom.”

            That drew a laugh from her teary eyed boy and it made all the difference.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember comments are my life blood and I LOVE hearing from you guys.
> 
> There will be more. I'm not entirely sure what this is morphing into because I'm flying by the seat of my pants, but there is more.


	4. The Funeral

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Starks attend Aunt May's funeral.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter four! SURPRISE IT'S EARLY!  
> Again, thank you, thank you, thank you for all the comments and kudos!
> 
> This one was so long I had to split it up so stay tuned for chapter five!

Chapter Four: The Funeral

            May’s funeral was beautiful, Pepper had done a fantastic job organizing it and keeping SI running and allowing Tony to take care of both of the kids while she did it all. He didn’t know what he would do without her, but he was certain that timeline ended with him dead in a gutter. He didn’t want to know where that would leave the kids.

            “Daddy, why are we wearing black?” Morgan asked him quietly as she leaned on his shoulder, she had been shy since they arrived and had not wanted to be put down.

            He kissed her temple. “Because that’s what people do at funerals, Maguna. It’s something about being a symbol of mourning. Mourning means that we’re missing someone.”

            His daughter didn’t answer, but rather nodded and kept her face hidden.

            Peter looked like he also wanted to hide his face in Tony’s jacket, what with how close the kid was standing to him. Tony had helped him tie his tie this morning, and Peter, for all his discomfort and blotchy face, looked very handsome in his three-piece suit.

            “Peter,” a middle aged woman came up to them and took Peter’s hand in hers. “I’m so sorry for your loss, she was such a lively one. If you need anything, you _must_ tell me—”

            “Thank you, Mrs. Lombard,” the kid answered quietly. “I—I’m okay.”

            The woman looked at Peter with pity in her eyes, “I’m sure you will be, Peter. Will you be returning to Queens?”

            His kid shook his head. “N-No, Mrs. Lombard, I’ll be away from the city for the rest of the summer.”

            Tony jumped in, poor kid was struggling so hard. “We’ll be heading to our private family residence to recover from the shock. Pete will be back in September for school.”

            Mrs. Lombard looked at him now, curious and searching, but after a moment she simply nodded and turned back to Peter. “You let me know if you need anything.”

            The teenager nodded again. “Thank you.”

            As soon as the woman stepped away, his son leaned into him and hid his face in his shoulder. With Morgan in his left arm and Peter clinging to him on his right, Tony really hated Thanos, hated that he couldn’t stand there and hold his children, that he needed to sit down because his back and legs were screaming. But, the pain didn’t matter, it certainly wasn’t going to stop him from putting his arm around his son. So he did.

            “C’mon kiddo, let’s go sit somewhere else, yeah?” he didn’t let go of Peter as he turned them towards the side door of the chapel they were standing in, in hopes of finding a quiet room.

            “Y-yeah, can we go home Dad?” God, his son sounded so scared. “I—I know we can’t, but I don’t want to talk to anyone else.”

            “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” Tony promised as he caught Pepper’s eye. “Mom’s coming to help.”

            “Okay,” Pete took a shuddering breath, but kept his face hidden in Tony’s shoulder.

            “Daddy, I don’t like funewals,” Morgan said softly.

            Tony nodded. “I agree, Baby, we shouldn’t have any more funerals.”

            Pepper reached them just as they got to the door, “There’s a sitting room down the hall. Let’s go there.”

            She didn’t ask him if he was okay, she didn’t try to take Morgan or Peter, instead Pepper put her business face on and walked them to the sitting room. He loved his wife, he loved that she knew that he couldn’t let go of their children right now, he loved that she knew he was in pain, but didn’t insist that he stop taking care of their children to address it.

            “Dad,” Peter said softly, as they settled onto the couch. “I’m really tired.”

            “I know, buddy,” Tony replied pulling him closer after setting Morgan down in Pepper’s lap.

            Pepper rested her head against his shoulder as Morgan cuddled up into her. “We can take a few minutes here, it’s okay to be upset and it’s okay to be sad.”

            Peter took another deep breath. “Dad, you’re hurting.”

            “I’m sure your Mom’s got it covered,” Tony replied pressing a kiss to his son’s forehead. “We’ll just sit here and take a breath, okay? Maybe take the rest of the day off after this.”

            “Your breast pocket has your painkiller,” Pepper murmured.

            “Why is Daddy hurt?” Morgan asked softly, as if sensing that her whole family was too exhausted for normal speech.

            “Don’t worry, Baby sis,” Peter reached out towards her. “It’s okay, he’s just old.”

            Tony snorted. “I’m not _that_ old!”

            Morgan giggled, but then turned to her mother. “It’s all okay?”

            Pepper nodded. “Yes, Baby, it’s all okay.”

           

            Even with the emotional exhaustion and two more, smaller, Peter breakdowns, they all got through the service and the trip to the cemetery. The priest from their local church spoke, so did a few of May’s close friends, Peter—Peter got up and looked so lost that Pepper didn’t even have to nudge Tony for him to go stand up with their son and keep him grounded as he spoke at his last biological family member’s funeral.

            The ride back to the tower was quiet. Morgan had cried, mostly for Peter because he was struggling and crying on and off; she was too young to fully understand what was going on and hadn’t really known May, but the funeral had been exhausting and after crying she had fallen asleep. Tony was holding her with complete disregard for seatbelt rules because she had been weeping too hard for them to place her into her car seat. Happy was driving _very_ carefully. On the opposite bench, Peter was curled up next to Pepper, he was dozing in and out of consciousness, sniffling quietly.

            “We can leave for the Lake House, tonight,” Pepper said softly as she passed a hand through their son’s hair. “I wrapped up everything that I needed to get done in person.”

            “You think we should?” he raised an eyebrow. “We aren’t packed or anything.”

            “We can put the kids to bed in the guest room and do the packing ourselves,” she said.

            “Why tonight, Pep?”

            “Because they don’t want to be here, and I think getting them away from all of the sadness would be better for them. Let’s just take our kids somewhere safe.”

            Tony couldn’t argue with that. “Alright, let’s do that.”

 

            Happy helped them move the kids upstairs, and Tony and Pepper started packing their own suitcases first. DUM-E and U were loaded onto the jet to be transported, most of their clothing was already at the house, but a few things still needed to be packed. Then, all of Morgan’s favorite stuffed animals, blanket, books, and toys—it took about half an hour to locate all of their daughter’s things and another twenty minutes to get it all to fit into the suitcase.

Peter’s things were the hardest to pack, Tony enlisted KAREN to help him and Pepper determine what Peter needed to take with him. Two days ago, they had gone back to his and May’s apartment and selected all of his necessities before having the rest boxed up and put into storage until the day Peter felt well enough to sort through it all—if that day ever came. In the end, most of Peter’s newer clothing—Pepper had done some shopping after he had moved in—and all of his science pun shirts, as well as his electronics, suit, well worn textbooks, and stuffed Iron Man that, according to KAREN, he’d been sleeping with were packed.

 

“M-Mom? Dad?” Peter’s voice called from the hall.

“In the living room, Sweetie,” Pepper answered.

Morgan’s voice was more desperate than her brother’s, “Mommy?”

“We’re in here,” Tony called louder.

Both of the children arrived into the living room looking a little frantic, Peter was carrying a slightly bleary-eyed Morgan who was octopussed around him. “We didn’t know where you were.”

“Why were we asleep in the other room?” Morgan asked reaching down towards Pepper.

Peter sat down next to Tony and leaned his head on his shoulder.

Pepper kissed their daughter on the head. “Daddy and I were packing, Baby. We’re all heading out to the Lake House, as soon as you two are ready.”

“What?” Peter looked up at Tony. “We’re leaving, now?”

He wrapped an arm around his son, “As soon as you’re set. Pep and I packed everything for the you two. Happy’s just on standby, we were waiting for you two to get up.”

“What time is it?” the teenager suddenly seemed disoriented. “I didn’t tell Ned I was leaving or MJ, and I don’t—”

“Breathe, Kiddo, it’s okay,” Tony tightened his hold on the kid. “It’s just after five, and you can call Ned and MJ from the car, or the plane.”

“We thought it would be a good idea to get out of the city as soon as possible, is that alright Sweetie?” Pepper leaned over to look at their son.

Tony felt Peter stiffen for a moment.

He ran a hand through the boy’s hair. “We can leave another day if you want to stay for a while, Kiddo. There’s no rush.”

Morgan was waking up a little more. “We’re leaving New York?” She sounded excited; it was no secret that she wasn’t terribly impressed with the city.

“As soon as your brother is ready,” Pepper replied. “And, not before.”

“I—I don’t want to—”

Pepper leveled him with a look. “Peter, you are not a bother. You are a valuable member of this family.”

Tony didn’t envy the kid for the internal struggle he was clearly having.

“I just—” the kid cut himself off again.

“Kid,” he took pity on his son. “What is it that you need to do before you leave?”

Peter shook his head. “I—I don’t need to do anything. I’ve just never been to the Lake House before.”

“Oh,” Tony blinked. _Of course, he was nervous_.

Pepper smiled encouragingly at their son, “Morgan will talk your ear off about it on the plane, I’m sure.”

The little girl grinned broadly. “You’re gonna love it, Petey! I have a tent, and my room is the bestest. And—”

 

It didn’t take too long to get everyone to the airport, onto the jet, and settled in with cheese burgers and rootbeer. Morgan had coloring books and crayons at her disposal after take off and she talked quietly with Peter while they colored in Captain America’s shield.

Tony was starting to feel the day getting to him, he and Pepper hadn’t been able to nap before the kids had woken up and it was just as well with how scared they’d been. In some ways he worried that Morgan’s own confidence in her safety had been shaken by Peter’s arrival into her life and all the subsequent crises that had come from it, but really he knew that it had been his own brush with death that had shaken his little girl.

Since his experience with the infinity stones, Morgan had awoken a few nights a week crying or worried about his safety. Pepper said it was normal, their daughter had seen him hurt for the first time in her life and that changed her world view, but that Morgan would recover and that as long as they both kept reminding her that they were there to stay she would stop having nightmares.

“I can see the cogs in that beautiful brain of yours working too hard, Tony,” his wife said quietly as she rested a hand on his arm. “We’re okay, we’re all going to be just fine.”

“Just worrying about the kids,” he admitted softly. “I don’t want them to be scared when they wake up, I want them to know they’re safe in their home.”

“We know we’re safe, Dad,” Peter grinned. _Damn enhanced hearing._

“Good,” he smiled at his son. “Don’t eavesdrop, you’ll hear things you wish you hadn’t.”

“Tony!” Pepper laughed, it was her first laugh all day and he couldn’t help but give her a kiss.

“You’re amazing, Pep. Do I tell you that enough? I don’t think I do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I live for the comments, as always.  
> I have a lot of fun writing this even if it isn't all the best quality writing. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I do...
> 
> Quick note: the avengers WERE at the funeral, I just didn't mention them because I wanted to stay focused on Peter and frankly Tony would've been entirely focused on his son.


	5. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter arrives at the Lake House.  
> Family Fluff ensues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's number FIVE!  
> I'm forever grateful for those of you who have stuck with this story.  
> Hopefully you aren't all sick of this fic yet.

In the end, Peter convinced himself that this could be a good thing. Morgan had been kicking her feet for the entire last half hour of the drive from the airport and he could have sworn that Tony visibly relaxed the closer they got. Pepper was still working, but even she seemed to be calmer now that they were out of the city.

“We’re almost there, Maguna,” Dad grinned looking back at them in the rear-view.

Pepper looked up as Morgan’s sneakered foot made contact with her seat. “Morgan H. Stark—”

“Sorry, Mommy,” his sister was still fidgeting and wriggling even as she apologized for kicking their Mom’s seat for the umpteenth time since they’d gotten into the car.

“Try to hold still, Baby,” Mom sighed, but a smile was on her face as she turned back to her tablet. “We’re—”

“Here!” Dad said cheerfully as he stopped the car in front of a large water-front property.

The Lake House was small compared to Tony’s other residences, Peter was sure, but it was still bigger than most houses he had ever been in. It had a large wooden porched that was decked out with comfortable chairs, Peter could visualize the four of them sitting out there for lunch at Mom’s insistence that they get some fresh air.

“The workshop is in the garage,” Pepper smiled as they stepped out of the SUV. “No one is allowed in tonight _and_ neither you nor Morgan is allowed in without permission or supervision, Pete, understand?”

He nodded. “Yes, Mom.”

“Good,” she smiled. “The garage is less secure than the workshop at the tower and I don’t want any accidents.”

“We _know_ , Mommy,” his sister said as she wriggled out of her car seat that their dad had just released her from.

“Actually, Maguna,” Dad told her gently, “ _you_ know and don’t listen, but this is Petey’s first time at the Lake House.”

Morgan blushed. “I do _so_ listen, Daddy. I just _like_ working in the garage.”

“I know, Baby, I know,” Tony smiled and picked her up. “C’mon, let’s go show Petey the house!”

It took a few trips to get all the bags inside, given that Happy had simply dropped them off at the airport and wouldn’t be joining them for a while. Peter was used to spending time at the tower, but he hadn’t ever truly appreciated how luxurious life as a Stark really was. The Lake House was comfortable, but everything exuded quality and money in a tasteful way—it was just very obvious to him. This was not a weekend at the tower, this was their home and he couldn’t help feeling like—

_I don’t belong_.

“Petey!” Morgan broke through his thoughts as she grabbed his hand. “Come see my room.”

“Uh, sure, Morg,” he took a deep breath and put a smile on his face; there was no point in making his sister sad—his sort of sister…

He knew that Tony and Pepper thought of him as their son, he knew that they had adopted him and that he was part of the family legally—heck, Pepper had even said that he was in the will. His _last name_ would be Stark in a few days, if it wasn’t already. But…this voice in his head kept nagging him—what right did he have to this? What right did he have to be part of this happy family when everyone who had sacrificed and cared for him before was dead?

_I don’t deserve this._

Morgan led him up two flights of stairs to a landing with four doors, one of which had an Ironman mask and a Rescue mask sign on the door.

“That’s Mommy and Daddy’s room,” the little girl explained and turned to another door, this one with a crown and stars on it as well as her name in cursive. “That’s my room!”

Peter smiled, “That’s a cool sign, Morg!”

She nodded, “I like your sign better, though,” and she pointed at a third door. “Spider-Man is so cool!”

His heart stopped.

There, on the door next to Morgan’s, was a Spider-Man mask with his name in block letters under it.

“T-that’s—” he couldn’t get the words out as his eyes filled with tears, God he was such a baby; he kept breaking down. “That’s _my_ room?”

“Petey?” Morgan looked up at him worriedly and raised her arms for him to pick her up.

He did without hesitation. “Yeah, Morg?”

His sister wrapped her arms around him and held him tight. “You’re okay, Petey.”

“I know, Morg,” he let out a breathless laugh and tightened his arms. “So, that’s my room, yeah? Right next to yours?”

He felt her nod. “Daddy kept it just the way you like it. He didn’t really let me inside, but sometimes when he and Mommy were asleep I would go look. I hope that’s okay? I didn’t touch your stuff, I promise!”

“D-Dad set up a room for me, here?”

Morgan pulled back to look at him, she looked confused. “Of course, Petey, you’re part of the family.”

“Well—” _Oh. OH!_

Tony and Pepper had made a room for him, they had talked to Morgan about him—they had wanted to remember him and keep him in their lives even though he had been…had been gone.

“D’you wanna go see your room now, Petey?” his little sister asked kicking her feet a little.

“Yeah, I haven’t seen it yet, you know? So I’m a little nervous,” it was easy to be authentic with Morgan, she wouldn’t judge him for crying or being nervous.

She nodded understandingly and wriggle until he set her down. “I’ll show you.”

Peter’s room was very similar to the one from the tower, but Tony had decorated it with his Spider-Man colors. His bed was still pushed against the wall, a desk with a red lamp and a cushy blue desk chair stood against the wall with the window. A warm red rug lay on the floor by the bed and room’s furniture was a mixture of blue and red with Spider-Man patterns along them.

“Wow, he went all out with the Spider-Man stuff, huh?” Peter grinned.

Morgan nodded. “D’you like it? I think Daddy would change it if you don’t.”

He smiled. “I love it! Look, Dad put a periodic table on the wall, so cool!”

His wall decorations and bookshelves were all what he would have picked out for himself if he had had the opportunity to spend all kinds of money on it. There were pictures on his nightstand, a cool Spider-Man shot, but also Iron-Man and Spider-Man, Tony and him at SI, and even one of Morgan and Pepper holding a Spider-Man stuffed toy.

“Actually,” a voice came from behind the two of them. “I picked out the periodic table.”

Peter turned to see Pepper smiling brightly with glistening eyes as she watched them, beside her Tony—Dad—was making a valiant effort not to look like he was tearing up.

He let go of Morgan’s hand and reached for his parents as they reached for him too, “Thank you, thank you so much.”

“You’re our kid, Kid,” Dad said with a huff that was somewhere between a laugh and a sob.

“We love you Peter, and you were always meant to be a part of our family,” Mom agreed as she pressed a kiss to his temple and pulled back.

He felt arms wrap around his leg as Morgan collided with him. “Can we go see my room now?”

“Yeah, we sure can, Baby sis,” he laughed, it was so nice to have a family.

 

“Peter liked his room,” Tony said a little triumphantly as he sat down next to his wife with a glass of wine.

Pepper smiled knowingly, “Not that it’s a competition or anything, but he _loved_ that periodic table.”

He struggled to stifle his laugh, it was two in the morning and they hadn’t slept since yesterday morning, he was getting a little delirious and was giddy that both his kids and his wife were under the same roof.

She grinned back at him and giggled and it was just the best sound in the whole world.

_God I love her._ “God, I love you.” He leaned down to kiss her.

“And, I love you. Enough to marry you and raise two kids with you,” Pepper pulled back grinning. “What _was_ I thinking?”

“That you absolutely wanted to spend the rest of your life with the man who built your dream,” he said certainly.

“That _had_ to have been it,” her smile lit up his whole world.

Tony pressed another kiss to her lips and stifled a laugh against them, “Never thought I would find myself trying to keep quiet because of my two kids upstairs.”

Pepper laughed out loud as she leaned forward to muffle the sound against his shoulder.

“What? I’m serious.”

“I know,” she told him. “I’m just thinking of how funny it is that you could never picture yourself as a Dad when it’s the role that seems the most natural on you.”

It always caught him of guard when she said things like that. “Does it?”

She nodded. “Yeah it does. You’re the best Dad, Tony Stark.”

“I’m still worried about them,” he admitted softly; so much for a romantic night with wine—

“You’re right to be,” Pepper said quietly, brushing a curl out of his face. “Peter liked his room, but he’s still struggling with survivor’s guilt and loss. But, Peter has a great Dad and a strong family who love him, so he will be okay. You’re not the only one who worries about them, you know.”

He sighed and smiled weakly back at her. “I know; they have the best Mom in the whole world.”

Tony leaned down to kiss his wife again, but that was when— “Boss, Peter appears to be in distress.”

“What? FRIDAY pull up the feed on the TV,” his blood ran cold.

The screen lit up, showing his son twisting and turning in his bed, clearly having a nightmare. The audio was low, but Peter was talking, “No, no. Da-Dad.”

He didn’t know how he’d gone from the main floor family room to the third floor in point two seconds flat, but he was at Peter’s bedside in no time at all.

“Kid, hey, Peter wake up, Kiddo,” he shook his son gently.

The teenager’s eyes flew open, “D-Dad? Mr. Stark, you’re okay?”

“I’m right here, Kid,” Tony frowned at the regression. “I’m okay, son. You just had a nightmare.”

“I’m sorry,” Peter said softly. “I just—”

“You’re okay, Pete. Hey, look at me,” he waited until his kid did so. “I’ve got you. Nightmare happen, they’re going to keep happening for a while, but that’s okay. It’s okay to be scared and to not be able to sleep because you went through something hard. I’m here for you, I’m your dad, remember?”

Peter nodded. “Yeah, I remember.”

Tony didn’t say anything for a second, then smirked. “All the parenting books say that to make sure a child understood what you said they have to repeat it back to you.”

He got a smile out of the kid for that one. “You’re my Dad and you’re here for me. Nightmares are normal and it’s okay to have them and—and it’s okay to be scared.”

“That’s right,” Pepper said from the doorway. “And I’m here for you too, alright? Anything you need, sweetie. Got it?”

“Yes, Mom. You care about me and are here for me when I need anything at all.” Peter nodded again.

“He learns fast,” Tony grinned and winked at his wife. “Want some chocolate milk, buddy?”

“I can?” the kid’s eyes grew wide as he looked to Pepper to check that it was okay—he learned fast indeed.

Pepper smiled that loving smile that made Tony’s whole world stop for a second, the love she had for their kids blew his mind. “Of course, everyone deserves chocolate milk after nightmares.”

Three glasses of chocolate milk later, Tony and Pepper tucked their son back in bed. It was almost three in morning and he was sure that, even though he’d spent most of his life staying awake for days on end, he was going to die of exhaustion.

Still, it was rewarding to kiss Peter on the forehead and hear him say, “It’s all just going to be okay, right?”

Even more rewarding was being able to smile and nod while Pepper said, “Yes, sweetie, it’s all just going to be fine. No matter what.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hope that was alright...  
> As always: Your comments give me life and bring more chapters to the forefront.  
> Any shenanigans you wish for Morgan and Peter to get up to are also welcome comments :)


	6. The Avengers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Avengers show up and shenanigans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thank you so so much for all of the comments and all of the kudos and general kindness.  
> I don't know how I feel about the writing in this particular chapter, but we'll see, I guess?

Chapter Six: The Avengers

            It took three days for them to descend on the house. Frankly, Tony was surprised they hadn’t come sooner, but then the potentiality of an angry Pepper was enough to terrify anyone. Even the Avengers: Earth’s mightiest heroes, or whatever.

            Those three days saw them unpacking, figuring out how to keep both kids happy without parking them in front of cartoons—Morgan was starting to miss New York and neither he nor Pepper was particularly impressed with how much screen time she had been putting in—and setting up the lab for use again. In truth, Tony knew the team needed to come for a visit, or at least some of them did, because they still had infinity stones to put back.

            Maguna and Pete had taken to playing outside by her tent and climbing trees. It definitely paid to have an older brother with killer (literally) reflexes in case you slipped. Both kids obeyed the rules about the garage, which solidified Tony’s belief that Pepper was the most terrifying person in the whole world. Nightmares still happened for both kids and it kept him up a lot more than he strictly appreciated, but—as Pepper helpfully pointed out one night after Morgan had woken the whole house by almost shattering all the windows with her shrieking—screaming kids were breathing kids.

            He was nursing his third cup of coffee with three shots of expresso of the morning and mentally doing the Sudoku in the paper when the car pulled up. Steve stepped out and waved tentatively, things had been better with Capsicle since their Time Heist, but Tony was still working on separating Sargent Bucky Barnes from the man who had brutally murdered his parents. Steve had brought him along, but thankfully had called ahead to let him know and asked if it was alright. Tony had said yes. Natasha and Bruce exited the backseat at the same time as Barnes stepped out of shotgun.

            He’d read all of the reports of course, Bucky Barnes had been brain washed and had had his mind essentially turned to soup for several long and painful years—Tony couldn’t hold him responsible for a crime he technically didn’t commit. He’d talked to Pepper about it for hours last night.

            “Tony!” Bruce waved, he’d managed to turn himself back into his human form, which was both an improvement and a step down in Tony’s opinion.

            “Hey guys,” he waved slightly and turned to call inside. “Pep, the ah—the team is here.”

            His wife stepped out onto the porch, “Well, it’s good to see you all. Why don’t you come in? I’m just about done making breakfast.”

            “It’s good to see you Pepper,” Nat smiled and walked up to give her a hug.

            Pepper smiled back, “How’s the boy’s club?”

            The two women stepped inside to keep chatting, leaving Tony to figure out what to do with Bruce, Steve, and Barnes.

            “Ah, Tony, this is—” Steve tried for an introduction.

            Tony waved him off and stood up, “Bucky Barnes, it’s good to meet you.”

            To his credit, the man didn’t balk, he simply extended his hand. “Likewise, Mr. Stark.”

            Tony snorted, “God, you sound like my son, just call me Tony.”

            “Your son?” Barnes looked confused.

            “Yeah, I have a fifteen-year-old and a four-year-old,” he motioned towards the house with his head.

            “His adopted son,” Bruce filled in. “Some of us went to the funeral a couple of days ago. It was, ah, a beautiful service Tony.”

            “Yeah, tell Pepper. She put the whole show together, I’ve mostly been being useless with the kids.”

            “Keeping your son from spiralling into grief, you mean? That’s not useless, Tony.” Steve cut in.

            “Let’s head inside, alright?” he didn’t really feel like hashing out his kids’ nightmares and insecurities this early in the morning.

            The banter with Bruce came easily enough, they were sitting in the family room when Peter appeared at the foot of the stairs, grabbed the Ming vase from the table and promptly hurled it at Barnes’ head.

            Capsicle caught it, thankfully.

            “Peter!” Pepper’s eyes were wide.

            Tony stood on reflex even as the other avengers carefully moved further away from the teenager. “Pete, we don’t greet people by hurling expensive vases at their heads. Even when we don’t like them because they’re from Brooklyn.”

            Peter blinked at him. “Dad, what?”

His son’s defensive stance did not relax even as his confusion was evident. Tony had known it was a possibility for the kid to develop PTSD, but he had _hoped_ that he wouldn’t.

Tears started to form in Peter’s eyes as his fight or flight instincts kicked in, he needed to act fast.

“Hey Pete, it’s okay,” he stepped in front of his son. “Dad here, you recognize me buddy?”

The kid nodded. “Dad, yeah.”

“I need you to breathe with me, alright? In and out, nice and slow.”

It took five repetitions, but Peter’s eyes started to clear and he relaxed. Occasionally his eyes strayed to the figures behind Tony, but mostly he seemed to stay focus.

“Alright, I made a mistake, kid. I should’ve told you we were expecting guests,” he wanted to be as clear with Pete as he could be. “Why don’t you and I go upstairs and wake Morgan up for breakfast?”

“Okay, yeah, um—b-but Mom?” the panic was still evident in the kid’s voice.

“Mom is okay, she’s more than capable of kicking these guys’ asses if necessary. I promise.”

“You promise. Okay,” Peter started to breathe again and repeated, “okay, okay. Yeah, upstairs, let’s wake Morg.”

It took twenty minutes to calm the kid down enough to explain to him that no one in the house was a threat—even if Barnes had technically killed Tony’s parents—and that everything was just fine. In the end, however, Morgan was woken and dressed and Peter was able to be coaxed back downstairs with the promise of French toast. Morgan elected for Tony to carry her downstairs because she didn’t like the idea of meeting a lot of new people who were going to be so much taller than her. Tony completely understood that sentiment.

“Oh look who’s finally up,” Pepper grinned from where she had been talking to Steve and Barnes. “How’d you sleep, Morgan?”

Tony could feel the relief radiating off Peter as Pep kept the attention on Morgan and distinctly away from him.

“Mommy,” Morgan said softly before looking at each of the new faces in turn. “’Vengers in the house, Daddy.”

“Yep, there sure are, Maguna!” he laughed. “That’s Natasha, you can call her Aunty Nat if you want, I don’t think she’ll mind.”

He’d meant to get under the Widow’s skin, but instead she seemed taken with his daughter, “Hi, little one, I definitely don’t mind if you call me Aunty Nat. I have really good friend whose kids also call me that.”

“You’re a spider,” Morgan smiled, “like my brother.”

Tony felt Pete freeze for a second, but then the kid seemed to remember that his identity had _definitely_ been outed to the Avengers.

Natasha smiled, “Yes, I am. Your brother seems like he’s a very good spider.”

Morgan nodded. “Petey is the best!”

“And that,” Tony continued because he was on a role and no one was trying to stop him, “that’s your Uncle Bruce. Pete you haven’t met Uncle Bruce either, have you?”

His son was wide eyed as Morgan waved at Bruce, “Hi Uncle Bruce.”

“Uh, hi kiddo, it’s good to meet you,” Bruce, bless him, smiled at Morgan and then turned to Pete. “I heard from your dad that you’re a budding scientist.”

“Doc—Doctor Banner, oh my god, it’s so cool to meet you, sir. Your research on nuclear physics is unparalleled, except of course with my Dad’s, but it’s really cool and I read a lot of your papers and I’m a huge fan of the way you turn into a giant green rage monster and smash stuff,” Tony didn’t even stop him, he couldn’t—that was the first time since his aunt died that Pete had rambled.

A laugh echoed from behind him and Peter stopped as Tony turned to look at Steve. “Tony, he is _definitely_ your son. Isn’t that verbatim what you said to Banner when you met him the first time?”

Tony grinned and put a hand on Peter’s shoulder. “Yeah, maybe. And this, kids, is your Uncle Steve—assuming Capsicle is off the table—and his friend Sargent Bucky Barnes.”

Steve smiled, “I’ve met both of you, but was never formally introduced to you Ms. Stark. It’s very nice to meet you.”

Morgan stared wide eyed at him for a minute then her eyes shifted to Bucky and she waved shyly. “Does your arm hurt, Sargent?”

Barnes smiled. “Sometimes it does, but it’s not too bad.”

“I—uh,” Peter piped up nervously. “I’m sorry for throwing Mom’s Ming Vase at your—um, face, Mr. Sargent Barnes, sir.”

The man laughed, “Don’t worry about it, kid. Why don’t you two just call me Bucky? I haven’t been a Sargent for a long time.”

“Okay, Mr—um, Bucky,” Pete agreed as Morgan nodded.

“Alright!” Pepper had been standing, watching the exchanges and, Tony was certain, trying to figure out if she needed to kick anyone out of the house before anything expensive got hurled across the room again. “Let’s have breakfast!”

Things settled a little, much to Tony’s relief. Romanoff fell into an easy conversation with his kids; she captivated Morgan with her stories of being a ballet dancer—there was a lot of darkness behind that story, but Natasha wasn’t sharing those parts. Pete was quiet at first, but Bruce got him talking again, which was unexpected and also welcome.

“So how’ve you been, Tony?” Steve asked conversationally.

“Oh you know,” he motioned to the table. “Pretty decent considering two traumatized kids, nearly losing an arm and my life, the usual.”

Pepper was engaging Bucky in conversation, which was interesting to watch happen as the man seemed both uncomfortable to be speaking to her and also terrified about what might happen if he stopped. Pepper seemed to be asking him about his time in Wakanda.

“You survived,” Steve pushed on. “That’s what matters.”

“Is it?” Tony felt his competitive side rise and tried to contain it. “I want my family to have more than just survival. I want my kids to live in a world they feel safe in.”

To his credit, the other man didn’t balk. “I agree. It’s time for you to rest, even if there might still be work to be done.”

“There are other people who can do the work,” he sighed heavily. “My family doesn’t need that kind of stress anymore.”

Steve nodded.

“So, um, not that it isn’t cool to see you guys here, or anything,” Pete cut in. “But, why _are_ you here?”

“Well, uh,” Bruce turned to Tony expectantly.

Pepper had turned to look at him as well, so he said, “Well, these guys need my help to put the infinity stones back where they need to be so we can erase those branching realities that the monk told your Uncle Bruce about.”

Worry flashed across his wife’s face, but Peter beat her to it. “ _You_ ’re not going to time travel, right?”

For a moment, Tony saw the fear and worry written across not only Pepper’s face, but also his two children’s faces and knew there was only one answer to that question. “No, I’m not. I’m just going to be helping Bruce with the controls. I’m not taking any unnecessary risks.”

“Daddy,” Morgan piped up. “You promise you’re not going anywhere?”

“I’m not going anywhere, Maguna. Promise, cross my heart, Baby.” Tony felt his heart break a little at the thought of his little girl being afraid of him leaving her.

Steve seemed to find this a good time to add, “Your dad’s not actually going on this mission, he’s just standing by to help Doctor Banner in case something goes wrong, but nothing is going to go wrong. This is just a small clean up mission, I’m the only one time traveling.”

Tony caught Nat looking concerned at that, but she didn’t object so he kept that to himself.

 

“You guys really don’t have to be here,” Tony said to Pepper a few hours later, when they’d gotten all the gear set up.

She raised an eyebrow. “I trust you, I love you, but I’m not letting you leave my sight until this is over.”

He opened his mouth to object, but Morgan in Peter’s arms as they spoke to Natasha caught his eye and he knew that Pepper was right; he was so prone to taking risks—lots of risks that he couldn’t take anymore. He couldn’t just jump into harms way and expect his sacrifice to be okay or for the best; he had kids who needed him, he had a beautiful wife who _wanted_ him to stand by her side, he had something to _live_ for.

“You’re right,” Tony said instead. “I’ll be just over there with Bruce, okay?”

Pep nodded and stepped back to make sure the kids knew where they were supposed to stand.

With Steve all suited up and his time GPS quadruple checked, “I’m ready, Tony.”

“Alright, then let’s do this.” He smiled encouragingly at Capsicle, after all, the man was being very brave right now and time travel, no matter how safe it was according to Tony’s perfect calculations, was always a risk.

“You sure you don’t want anyone else to come with you?” Natasha asked as she stepped up towards Steve.

_That’s different_ , Tony noted quietly and turned to look at Bruce who seemed completely unphased by the whole thing.

Bucky looked concerned too, but was standing a bit away from them. “I could go with you.”

Steve shook his head. “Nah, I’m fine. I love you all, I’ll be back soon. Alright?”

“You got all those extra Pym particles in case?” Tony asked again, couldn’t be too careful.

“Yeah, I’m good. Get behind the line, guys,” he gently pushed Bucky and Natasha back towards the group.

“Is Uncle Steve gonna be okay?” Morgan’s voice carried.

Natasha turned to her and smiled, “Your Uncle Steve is going to be just fine, he’ll be back in a little bit. He just needs to run a few errands.”

Peter was still holding his sister and nodded encouragingly, Pepper had her arms around both of the children and didn’t look like she was going to let go any time soon. No matter how much Tony had told them they didn’t need to be here; there was no way his family wasn’t going to be a part of this.

“Alright, departure in—” he started off and Bruce started flicking switches. “Five, four, three, two, one.”

Steve vanished.

“How long is this going to take?” Bucky turned to him curiously.

Bruce answered, “For him, as long as he needs, but for us about five more seconds.”

Tony started counting again, the monitors were showing promising signs, “Re-entry in five, four—”

One of the good old Wizard’s wormholes appeared and a figure fell out—a figure that was much too small to be Capsicle. Pepper pulled the kids behind her instinctively as Natasha went full Widow and got low and defensive. Even Barnes reacted defensively, holding his ground between Tony, Bruce, and the new comer. The wormhole vanished as quickly as it appeared.

It was an effort to keep counting, but Bruce needed the cue, “—three, two, one. Flip the switch!”

Captain America re-emerged from thin air looking no worse for wear, which was rather impressive all things considered. “Everything went perfectly, no hiccups at all.”

“Well,” Tony glanced over at the figure, “almost perfectly on our end.”

The person who had fallen into their world looked up, it was a girl about Peter’s age, and her eyes were filled with fear and sorrow. Her hair was almost shoulder length and blond, but most of the right half had been shaved off.

She blinked a few times after she got to her feet, her backpack slung over her left shoulder, “Is—Is Mr. Stark here?”

Tony froze, just his luck.

“Who are you?” Natasha asked, not moving from her defensive position between the girl and his children.

“I’m Gwen,” the blond kid said carefully. “I have a letter for Mr. Stark.”

“A letter from whom?” he asked, finding his voice again.

“Well,” she looked up at him and he caught a hint of fear and uncertainty in her eyes, “you.”

_Shit._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, this one was a little plot oriented, sorry about the immediate lack of fluff. And the lack of being able to appropriately reconstruct avengers banter.
> 
> Hope you liked it anyway?
> 
> Comments are my whole world!


	7. Gwendolyn Maxine Stacey Stark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gwendolyn Maxine Stacey Stark arrives.
> 
> I think you guys will find the answers you’re looking for here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this one isn't exactly fluffy, but *shrug* I hope you like it anyway?  
> THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR ALL OF YOUR FEEDBACK. It brings me such joy.
> 
> Also, I should note: I have really bad anxiety so I don’t really reply to comments because of that, but I’m gonna try to work up the courage to give it a shot. You guys are great and all of the feedback means so so much to me.

Chapter Seven: Gwendolyn Maxine Stacey Stark

            Tony didn’t know how to react as the teenager handed him a piece of paper and took a few steps back. The kid looks so scared and unsure about everything. His own kids looked _really_ confused.

Pepper stepped up beside him to take a look at the letter.

_Hey,_

_You. Me? Whatever. This is Tony Stark from another dimension/reality/whatever—I haven’t had a lot of time to read up on this new level of crazy. Especially since I’m not the one that actually matters because I’m dead—or don’t exist._

_If you’re reading this, you’ve met my little girl—well she’s a teenager and not actually my daughter, but she’s the closest thing I have to one. I couldn’t just let her disappear, I had to save her. If you have kids in your universe or whatever I’m sure you understand that. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I can’t just let her never have existed._

_Her name is Gwendolyn Maxine Stacey Stark—I drew up the paperwork before sending her to you. So technically she’s your kid now. She goes by Gwen, but I call her “kid” and “princess” mostly. She’s fifteen years old and she’s Spider Woman. Yeah she’s got super powers—she’ll explain, probably._

_Anyway, be good my girl Stark._

_Anthony Stark_

“You’re bad at giving pertinent information in every version of reality,” Pepper noted as she scanned the letter again. “I feel like her social security number should’ve been included here, somewhere.”

Tony shrugged. “You’re on that, right?”

His wife gave him a half smile. “I will be. How about I take her upstairs, away from _this_.” She gestured towards the very confused Avengers.

“I’ll deal with the kids,” he agreed and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I love you.”

“I know,” she grinned up at him and moved off to take care of their newest child.

 _I’m a father of three, now?_ Tony’s life officially couldn’t get any weirder.

“Tony?” Steve asked. “Who’s the new kid?”

He blinked. “Oh you know, my adopted daughter from another reality, apparently. Hey Bruce, call the Wizard, will you? I need to figure out how legit this is.”

“Your daughter from—” Bruce looked like Tony had just told him he was planning on growing an extra head.

“Wizard, buddy, I need the Wizard.” Tony was already grabbing Morgan from Peter and leading both of the kids to the garage.

Neither of his kids said anything until they were safely in the lab. If Tony hadn’t been sure they were his kids before, the immediate comfort they felt in the workshop was definitely enough to confirm it.

“Daddy, we have a sister?” Morgan was looking at him very concernedly.

Peter was also staring at him. “From another reality?”

“Okay, let’s back up a little,” he tried. “Maguna, you remember how I told you all about Petey before you met him, yeah?”

Morgan nodded.

“Pete, you remember how I sort of briefly explained to you that we had to go back in time and steal a bunch of infinity stones in order to fix our version of reality?”

The kid nodded.

“Okay, so when we went back in time and took those stones a bunch of different branched realities emerged because we changed a small thing in history, following?”

His daughter—youngest daughter now?—shook her head.

“Okay, uh, FRIDAY can I have a diagram for branched realities, please?”

“Sure thing, Boss.” A branch appeared lighting up the different “realities” in different colors above his holo-table.

Pete smiled, “Okay, so imagine that Mom gave you a cookie during playtime, Morg, but you lost your cookie somehow and it’s gone forever so you decide to go back in time and steal the cookie from the kitchen before Mom gives it to you.”

Morgan nodded. “Okay.”

“So then there’s one reality where Mom gave you a cookie and you lost it somehow, and there’s another reality where there weren’t enough cookies for Mom to give you one so you never got one in the first place.”

The little girl blinked, once, twice, then nodded again. “Oh okay! So our new sister is from a different reality?”

Tony was more than mildly impressed with how quickly his almost-five-year-old had grasped a concept that grown men had struggled with. “Exactly, Maguna! So Uncle Steve went back in time to put the stones we borrowed back, and because he did that the branched realities disappeared.”

“So it would be like if you stole the cookie, but then went and put it back so then Mom still has enough cookies to give you one at playtime. So only one reality exists,” Peter continued his analogy.

“Okay,” Morgan nodded. “So who is she? You didn’t tell me all about her like you told me about Petey, Daddy.”

Tony nodded. “Well, the thing is, Maguna—I don’t think Gwen existed in this reality before a different version of me sent her here.”

It was Pete’s turn to look confused. “Wait, so she’s—who?”

“I don’t know exactly, but according to the letter she was a different Tony Stark’s protégé, so I guess she was _you,_ kid.”

“Oh,” both of his kids said at the same time.

“So there are _two_ Petey’s?” Morgan asked.

“Not exactly, Maguna, I think Gwen is just a different kid who was _like_ Petey to a different me.”

“This is complicated, Daddy.”

“Yes, very,” Tony agreed and turned to his son. “You doing okay?”

“Um, yeah. So her whole world just…doesn’t exist anymore?” Pete sounded really sad.

“Yeah, actually,” now that he thought about it, Tony really felt for the girl, she was probably terrified. “So the takeaway is that we’re going to do our very best to be nice to Gwen because she’s becoming a part of our family, okay?”

“Okay…” Morgan didn’t look too sure.

“And just because Mommy and I now have three kids instead of just two,” he propped his youngest daughter up so she could look him in the eye. “Doesn’t mean we love any of you any less, okay? It’s all just a little different. And we’re going to figure it out.”

“Okay,” his little girl seemed reassured.

Peter looked a little ill. “She’s gonna be so scared.”

“We’ll work through it together, as a family. Now, why don’t we go into the house and make sure the avengers haven’t destroyed it, okay?”

 

As it turned out, they hadn’t. Bruce had by some miracle gotten in touch with the Witch Doctor who had confirmed that the letter and girl upstairs with Pepper were definitely from another reality that no longer existed—then, he had promptly wished Tony luck and vanished again.

“Okay, yeah, sure,” he _had_ to stay calm; his kids were looking to him for direction and he was just _freaking_ out about the fact that he had another kid. “Um…how about you two stay down here and try not drive any of Earth’s mightiest heroes insane.”

Romanoff stepped over and smiled at Pete and Morgan. “Why don’t you two pick out a movie?”

Tony raised an eyebrow.

“I’ve got them, Tony, you head up and deal with your newest arrival,” she smiled in what Tony would’ve believed was a reassuring smile if he didn’t know her, but then he _did_ know her and she wasn’t a _bad_ person. “And it goes without saying that if any harm comes to them you’ll travel back in time and rip us all limb from limb.”

“Damn straight,” he said as he placed Morgan on the ground and headed upstairs.

 

Prior to actually marrying him, Pepper was certain that there was no way Tony Stark could be _more_ exhausting than he already was. The man nearly died every other year and she was learning to cope with that stress, which by some mercy seemed to be over. And then he somehow manages to surprise both her and _himself_ by sending a _child_ from another reality.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Potts,” the girl was saying as they entered the guest room, which was now, of course, their new addition’s room.

“You don’t have to apologize,” she said in the same tone that soothed Morgan when the little girl broke something by accident or knocked over a cup of juice. “It’s just a circumstance that was out of your control.”

“Yeah, but I don’t belong here,” Gwen looked nervous and on verge of tears. “I just—I want Mr. Stark, not _your_ Mr. Stark, but _mine_.”

“I know, Sweetheart, but he sent you here because he couldn’t protect you and wanted you to be able to live and grow up,” this was _way_ above her experience level and Pepper wasn’t sure how to soothe a child who had just lost her whole reality.

“He didn’t even really talk to me about it,” her tone was one of desperation. “He just said good bye.”

“Well, from this letter—”

            The strange man from the park—apparently someone Tony knew now—appeared in the room through portal similar to the one Gwen had appeared from. He didn’t say anything for a long moment as he started at the teenager, then nodded to himself and walked out of the room and down the stairs.

            “That guy, there’s—there’s a him in my reality too,” Gwen looked confused and a little frightened. “Mr. Stark took me to him and said that he would help save me.”

            Pepper had had just about enough of this nonsense, there was no sense in scaring the girl any further. She got up closed the door—as if that would somehow keep the superheroes and interdimensional travelers from coming into the room.

            “Sweetheart, I know you’re going through a lot right now and you miss your home. I’m so sorry you lost it and all those people, but from this letter I can tell that your version of Mr. Stark really cared for you, he loved you so much that you’re the only person he saved from his whole reality. And he sent you here, to Tony and I, with confidence that this version of Tony would love you just as much as he did,” Pepper didn’t know where the words came from, but she was glad they found their way into the room because Gwen seemed to settle a little.

            “C-can you help me?” the girl looked so young. “I don’t know anything about anyone here.”

            “Of course, Sweetheart, I’ll always be here to help you,” she just knew in her heart that Tony and her were _definitely_ keeping this child. “You called me Ms. Potts, earlier, so I guess Tony and I aren’t married in your world?”

            Gwen’s eyes widened and she shook her head.

            “Okay, so Tony and I are married, we have two kids already; Morgan who is almost five—she’s our biological child—and Peter who is fifteen and adopted, like you. Following?”

            The girl nodded. “You probably don’t want another—”

            Pepper held up a hand. “Absolutely none of _that_. Remember what I said about how your Mr. Stark loved you enough that he knew that any version of him in any reality would love you just as much?”

            Hope filled the young girl’s eyes.

            “Alright, so Morgan and Peter are your sister and brother, Tony and I have been married for five years. Most people around here call me Pepper or Mom, no Mrs. Stark, no Ms. Potts, got that?” Pepper’s heart was breaking for her, she didn’t know she could get so attached to a child so quickly, but here she was making sure that Gwen knew that they were already on a first name basis and that she was loved.

            Gwen nodded again, words didn’t seem to be forthcoming right now.

            “Morgan and Peter both call me Mom, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to, alright?” This child’s comfort and adaptation was of the utmost priority, Pepper wanted her to feel as safe and as comfortable as possible.

            “Okay, I—um, I might need to get used to it,” she admitted quietly.

            “That’s alright, Sweetheart. Tony also goes by either Tony or Dad, that might be easier for you so you can reference your reality’s version of him as Mr. Stark, does that work for you?” Pepper felt a little like she was debriefing someone rather than being comforting, but Gwen seemed to be much more at ease with all the clarity and straight forward information.

            Gwen looked nervous again as she asked, “Yeah, um, do you think—will he mind if I talk about my Mr. Stark?”

            “I won’t mind at all,” Tony said as he entered the room. “He’s a part of your life, so is everyone you’ve ever had a meaningful connection with. It’s an absolute bombshell to lose your whole universe, but we’re gonna do our best to help you. Okay, Pumpkin?”

            Pepper snorted. “You _cannot_ call a teenaged girl ‘pumpkin’, Tony!”

            “Did you not like it?” he asked Gwen with a comically raised eyebrow.

            The young girl, to Tony’s credit, smiled weakly. “Pumpkin is cool.”

            “See? _Pumpkin is cool_ ,” her husband parroted at her.

            Pepper raised her hands in surrender, “Alright, let’s see if it’s cool when the media catches wind of it.”

            “Um—on second thought—” Gwen sounded a little uncertain.

            “No, don’t worry about it, she’s kidding,” Tony smiled reassuringly. “Now what has Pep told you about things?”

            It took a few more minutes to talk Gwen through the basics of their family, who was sleeping where, who liked what, how she was safe with them, that she wasn’t going to get tossed out if she felt like she screwed up—Pepper was honestly impressed by how intuitively Tony seemed to know what to say to put the girl at ease.

            “We’ll just get through it day by day, alright?” he was saying reassuringly.

            Gwen put a brave face on. “Yeah, okay—um—Dad?”

            “Dad works, if that’s what you want. Dad is very cool.”

            Pepper snorted again. “Sorry, I’m sure you _are_ very cool.”

            That got another smile out of their girl even if it faded quickly. “I—I might forget sometimes, but you _act_ a lot like a Dad. But, this—this isn’t so bad. I just…I don’t think it’s sunk in that they’re—they’re all gone forever.”

            “I’m so sorry you’re going to experience it sinking in,” she told her softly, “but we’ll be here every step of the way.”

            Tony nodded in agreement. “You’re not losing us, Pumpkin. Do you want to meet your siblings?”

            Gwen blinked and then nodded, although she seemed reluctant.

            “FRIDAY can you call Peter and Morgan up, please?” Pepper said to the AI.

            “Of course, Mrs. Stark.”

            “I thought no one called you Mrs. Stark?” the girl looked at her questioningly.

            “FRIDAY doesn’t count,” Tony replied for her. “No one in our family calls her Mrs. Stark.”

            Peter and Morgan came up the stairs at that moment, they were both looking around a little shyly as they stepped into Gwen’s new room.

            “Hi,” the girl said waving a little.

            Morgan smiled at her, “Hi, I’m Morgan. You’re my sister now?”

            Gwen nodded. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

            “Hi, uh, I’m—uh, I’m Peter,” their son waved back just as awkwardly.

            Pepper couldn’t help the look she shared with Tony. _How on earth was this going to work?_

            “So, do you have super powers?” Peter blurted out.

            Tony chocked and Pepper was pretty sure he hadn’t mentioned that to either of the children since it seemed a little premature to introduce their new sister as Spider-Woman.

            “I do,” Gwen smiled as Morgan’s mouth formed an O. “I got bitten by a radioactive spider when I was on—”

            “—a fieldtrip to a lab?” Peter grinned. “Me too!”

            “Wow that’s so weirdly similar! Do you have a suit? Mr. Stark made me pack mine when I was leaving.”

            “Yeah I do, my Dad—I mean _our Dad_ —made it for me!”

            Morgan was clearly tired of being left out. “DADDY I WANT A SUIT!”

            Pepper locked eyes with her husband again. _What_ exactly _were they going to do with two super spider children?_

            To his credit, Tony paled and smiled back weakly as utter pandemonium broke out around them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I hope that wasn't too painful, this one is wrapping up pretty soon. But, hopefully I'll be able to get some one-shots out to compliment it as the Starks begin their journey toward whatever their version of normal is.
> 
> As always, comments and Kudos, sustain me.


	8. Settling In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The family starts to find a semblance of normality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Okay so THIS is gratuitous fluff, I promise. This fic is coming to a close, just one chapter to go.  
> Thank you all so much for your support and all the comments have all just been so so precious and have helped me continue writing this.

Chapter Eight: Settling in

            The first night was an unqualified disaster. Tony was just glad that Pepper had managed to get the Avengers out of their house. Morgan woke up screaming at 10:15pm, then Peter was in distress at midnight and Gwen was on and off crying pretty much all night once the shock of losing her entire reality hit her. That night found Tony missing Morgan’s first few days of life when neither he nor Pepper had slept for more than 10 minutes; it had been easier than _this_.

            The first week after that hadn’t gone much better, Morgan for all that she was a patient and incredibly intelligent child was four years old and was missing the usual attention her parents gave to her. And thus, the meltdowns over food textures, TV time, the placement of her tent, and just about every other ridiculous thing possible had begun.

            Two days into repeated meltdowns from their youngest and sleepless nights with their two older children, Pepper sat on the couch by the fire place and gave Tony the most baleful look he had ever seen on his wife’s face.

            “Tony, we need a plan.”

            He had nodded, “Yeah, you’re right. We do. We have two traumatized teenagers and a four-year-old who wants her life back.”

            And so, the scheduling had begun. Everyone, including the older kids would bid Morgan good night, then both Tony and Pepper would stay with her until she fell asleep. Afterwards, Gwen would excuse herself to go to bed and usually Pepper would wait a few minutes before going to check on her—she was almost always crying herself to sleep—meanwhile Tony had time to touch base with Peter and make sure he was alright. Once Peter went to bed, Morgan usually had a nightmare, but was easy to put back to sleep. Then Peter had one. Then, _finally_ around two in the morning Tony and Pepper got to sleep before Gwen woke up from her fitful sleep at 5AM sharp and one of them—usually Tony because it was a fifty-fifty chance that he’d also had a nightmare—got up to see how she was doing.

            Tony was living off of espresso and hope for those first few days, but the meltdowns from all of the kids had lessened. In fact, Morgan had gone back to sleeping through the night most nights, Peter’s nightmares didn’t keep him up as long anymore, and Gwen had even started pushing her wake up time to five thirty by day nine of their new routine.

            The first week of September, a full two and a half weeks since Gwen’s arrival, saw the Stark family still at the Lake House. Pepper had said that the kids were better off eating, sleeping, and regulating their emotions than sitting in classrooms where they couldn’t learn because they weren’t stable. Tony had agreed wholeheartedly.

           

            “Dad,” Gwen asked him one morning a few days after he and Pepper had talked about the school situation.

            He looked up from where he was brewing coffee, it was early enough that they’d been sharing a comfortable silence, but late enough that he needed to get started on breakfast. “Yeah, Pumpkin?”

            His eldest daughter pulled the flour and sugar from the cupboard. “Kids do go to school in this reality, right?”

            Tony snorted. “Sure do, kiddo. You and Pete will start school a little late, though, it’s better to get you settled first.”

            Gwen nodded. “Okay, I guess I just wanted to—”

            “Prepare yourself? I get that. Don’t worry, Pumpkin, we’ll let you know when it’s going to happen, and Mom and I will make the transition as smooth as possible.” He gave her a one armed hug and dropped a kiss to the crown of her head, before starting the pancake mix.

            Gwen had come a long way in the last few weeks. She had opened up to him and Pepper, she had even settled in with her new siblings seamlessly; Tony was incredibly proud of her.

            “It’ll be okay, right?” she asked him in a forced casual tone.

Tony stopped to look at her, really look; and what he saw was a nervous teenaged girl who was worried about starting a new school—such a mundane worry compared to what his daughter had actually gone through, and he smiled.

            “No,” he shook his head, still smiling. “You’re Tony Stark’s daughter, nothing is ever going to be okay ever again.”

            That drew a giggle from her.

            “But, school’s going to be just fine. I promise.”

            A few moments later, Pepper came down the stairs already dressed with Peter and a somewhat sleepy Morgan sitting on her brother’s hip.

            “Good morning, you too,” she smiled and kissed Gwen who had hurried over to see her.

            Tony’s world lit up when he saw his wife smile. “Hey, breakfast is almost ready.”

            Gwen had reached her brother and sister, “Morning, hey Petey can you help Dad with the pancakes? You’re so much better at flipping them than I am.”

            “Uh, yeah sure, Sis,” the kid smiled and handed Morgan over to Gwen.

            “Mornin’ Gigi—” Morgan’s nickname for her sister was one of Tony’s favorite things.

            The older girl smiled widely, “Hey Morg, did you sleep okay? Did you have any cool dreams?”

            “I did!” the little girl said excitedly and started chattering away about flying robots and a machine that dispensed fourteen different kinds of candy.

            Suddenly, it hit Tony like a ton of bricks. Here, in his kitchen, was his family. Pepper was sitting at the island with the paper open scanning headlines, Pete had just finished prepping her coffee just the way she liked it and was standing by her side asking her questions about how she thought the morning’s news would affect SI, and just a few feet away were his daughters holding one another, resting their foreheads together, conspiring in a way only sisters could.

            _My life is so perfect_.

            “Dad?” Pete’s worried voice cut through his thoughts. “Dad, is something wrong?”

            Tony blinked and felt the dampness on his cheeks.

            “Tony?” Pepper half stood.

            “No, no,” he shook his head and raised his sleeve to wipe his face.

            Both of the girls were looking at him intently and said in unison, “Daddy?”

            “I just—” well now he’d gone and done it, he took a deep breath and reminded himself that real men _did_ cry. “You’re all just—perfect, look at you being so well adjusted and _happy_. It just hit me.”

            “Oh Tony,” his wife’s voice softened and she gave him her own watery smile.

            A teenaged form crashed into him and Peter’s voice was muffled in his side. “I love you, Dad.”

            Gwen had scampered over as well with Morgan in her arms and the two of them were leaning into him on his other side. “Love you, Daddy!”

            A camera shutter sound filled the air, and Pepper had tears running down her cheeks. “We’re framing that one.”

            She walked up to him and, as Tony felt his whole world fall into place in his kitchen, at ridiculous o’clock in the morning with is wife in front of him and his kids on either side, he leaned down and kissed her with all of those feelings.

            After a few beats, a chorus of “EWWWWWW!” filled the air and he pulled back rolling his eyes.

           

            Breakfast was a success, chocolate chip pancakes and French toast with chocolate milk, and coffee for the sleep deprived parents.

            “Alright, dishes, then everyone gets to go play outside,” Tony clapped his hands as his children devolved into a version of pre-chaos that meant, if he didn’t take control at that moment, he was either going to have to do the dishes himself or experience a world of whining.

            Gwen helped Morgan clean the chocolate off of her face as Peter set up a chair by the sink for his baby sister to stand on so she could help them. The kids had a system and Tony thought it was one of the best, if only because they were his kids and they were all qualified geniuses.

            “Happy’ll be here just before lunch,” Pepper announced as she piled the plates to start clearing the island where they ate their meals.

            “Really?” Gwen sounded excited as she supervised Morgan climbing onto the chair by the sink. “I mean, I know he doesn’t know me, but I know a version of Happy and he was really cool.”

            Pete grinned at his sister. “Happy’s great, he complains a lot, but that’s just because he doesn’t want to show that he likes us.”

            “He gets us cheese burgers and drives the car,” Morgan added helpfully. “He’s very nice and he plays games sometimes!”

            Tony smiled as Gwen looked at him hopefully and said, “You think he’ll like me?”

            “I know he will, Pumpkin,” he reassured her and then an idea popped into his head and he looked at Pepper questioningly. “Hey Pep?”

            “Oh no, I know that look,” but she sounded more amused than disapproving. “What are you up to, Tony?”

            “We could—we could play a prank on old Happy.”

            “A prank? Yes!” Morgan was definitely on board, her aggressively cute and excited smile sold the plan for everyone else before they’d even heard it.

 

            “Hey Boss?” Happy called as he walked into the Stark Lake House.

            His vacation for the last few weeks and then his supervision of the Avengers Compound in upstate New York had gone well, but he had to admit that he was missing the family. Even if they had adopted Spider-Kid and that would come with multiple trips to the High School probably.

God he hated the High School.

            “In here Happy!” Pepper called somewhere by the back of the house.

            The house seemed more lived in than usual, which wasn’t really a surprise; Morgan was just one kid, but with two kids there was no way Tony and Pepper could manage all of the clutter that came with _that_. Still, there were girl’s running shoes that looked too big for a four-year-old but too small for Pepper lying by the entrance. And even the kid couldn’t have _that_ many textbooks and a _pink_ hoodie?

            Happy walked into the den feeling confused, outside there was the sound of children laughing, which was good. Laughing kids meant that they were adjusting, right? Except it sounded like too many to be just Morgan and Peter..?

            “How was your drive, Happy?” Pepper was sitting on the couch scrolling through her tablet.

            “Oh, good, yeah,” he smiled. “Was nice to have some time off, but I’m back and ready to help you guys with security again. How’re you and the kids?”

            “We’re all doing great,” his boss smiled. “They’re having fun playing outside. We added some new photos to the mantle, we’ll need to get a new family portrait done—”

            Sure enough, there were new pictures on the mantle, one of Morgan in a tree with Peter and a blond girl—a school friend of his?—Happy didn’t remember seeing anyone like her before. Next to it were Pepper and Tony, beside that was one of Tony and Peter at one of his science fairs, another of Tony and Morgan in the garage, and one of Tony and the blond girl working on a science experiment in the kitchen. Pepper and Peter, Pepper and the two girls …Who was this blond kid? She looked about Peter’s age in the pictures.

            “Hey Hap, how was your trip?” Tony walked in from the kitchen. “Honey, d’you want me to cut up the bell peppers?”

            Pepper turned to look at her husband. “That would be great actually.”

            “It was good, Boss, hey I’ll help you in the kitchen,” he wanted to talk to Tony.

            “Oh thanks, it’s not really necessary, a lot of trial and error—but I’ve got the hang of this cooking stuff now,” Tony said, but didn’t really stop him from grabbing a knife and helping.

            “Hey Boss,” Happy caught sight of the blond girl outside with Morgan and Peter. “Who’s the kid?”

            Tony laughed. “Peter? Hap, you know we adopted him, you were there.”

            He shook his head. “No, the girl.”

            His boss stopped eviscerating a pepper and looked at him with a concerned expression. “You mean Morgan? Buddy, she’s been our daughter for almost five years, are you okay?”

            “No, no!” Happy glared at him and looked out the window again at the three children. “Not the baby kid, the _girl_ kid.”

            Pepper chose that moment to walk into the kitchen. “Hey guys, are you okay? I heard shouting.”

            “No, everything’s fine, Pep,” Tony was still staring at him. “I think Hap has jetlag, though.”

            “Oh, do you want to lie down?” she was looking at him with concerned eyes too.

            “Nah, everything’s fine, but—” the three kids chose to come bolting through the back door just then.

            The blond girl who he definitely did not know looked at him with joyful blue eyes and a wide smile, “Happy! It’s so good to see you!”

            The words fell from his mouth before he could stop them, “Who _are_ you?”

            The happiness drained from the girl’s face. “Happy? It’s me, Gwen.”

            “Happy, are you okay? This is Gwen, you know her.” Peter stepped up beside her then and put an arm around her. “Tony and Pepper adopted her.”

            “What? No, huh? They adopted—” _what was going on?_

            Morgan stepped right up in front of the two older kids and looked at him with beseeching eyes, “Happy, if you don’t remember Gwen, do you remember _me_?”

            “What, of course, I remember you kiddo—”

            Tony lifted an eyebrow, “Hap, are you sure you’re okay? The next thing you’re gonna tell me is that you don’t remember our other two kids.”

            _Other two—_ and then everything went dark.

 

            Happy had fainted.

            Objectively, Peter knew that was a bad thing, but he was really glad that the man _had_ actually fainted because he had _not_ been able to hold it together for another minute. In fact, he, Dad, Gwen, and Morgan were in stitches completely unable to do anything other than laugh. Even Mom was laughing, but she was also checking Happy’s vitals.

            “Happy?” Mom was saying. “Are you okay?”

            “P-Pepper?” the man sounded so confused and worried. “Pepper, when did you have five kids?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor, poor Happy.  
> Well, I hope you guys liked it! Stay tuned for the next (and last) chapter!  
> As always, Comments are my life's blood!


	9. New York

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Starks move back to New York and life happens in the best of ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's fluff. It's just all fluff.

Chapter Nine: New York

            It took a lot of convincing to get Happy in a good mood again, and that still wasn’t a sure thing. He was still complaining about the kids a week later when they finished moving everyone back to New York.

            Tony had high hopes for their time in the city; Pep wanted to get back to the office, he could go back to tinkering on his cars, all three kids were going to school, which meant that even Morgan would be away for most of the day—not exactly a perk, but it meant that he had time to look into those classified government files and head off anything dangerous without raising questions from his three geniuses.

            During the school year, the kids would be in school in New York and the family would live in the Tower, around Christmas time they would all relocate to Malibu and spend the holidays there, then back to New York, and finally summer at the Lake House again—it was a fool proof plan.

            “Boss,” FRIDAY drew him out of his thoughts as he contemplated the best route to get all three kids to school on time on Monday.

            “Yeah, FRI?”

            “Gwen appears to be in distress, Boss,” _shit! Relocating had probably set off the nightmares again._

            Pepper looked up from her tablet, “I’ve got it, Tony. I don’t think any of them are getting much sleep tonight anyway.”

            “You sure?” he asked, but she was already heading towards the kids’ rooms.

            “Yeah, Morgan will probably be—”

            Friday cut her off. “Boss, Ms. Stark appears to be in distress.”

            That was his cue.

            After tucking the girls back into bed and checking on Peter, who as it turned out, had never actually fallen asleep Tony was back on the couch with his wife.

            “That wasn’t as bad as it could have been,” she smiled at him knowingly. “Tony, they’re resilient, they’ll pull through.”

            He nodded distractedly. “Don’t you think she’s a little young to be going to kindergarten?”

            Pepper raised an eyebrow. “ _Tony_.”

            “I just worry,” he sighed. “And Gwen mightn’t be ready either, what about Pete? He might not want to go back—”

            His wife rested a hand on his arm. “Tony, you can’t protect them from the whole world.”

            “I can try,” but even he heard the desperation in his voice.

            “They’re going to be safe at school and we’ll see them in the morning, and in the afternoon after school, and then we’ll have them home all weekend and on holidays. Tony they need a routine and a healthy dose of _normal_.”

            She was right. “You’re right.”

            “I always am.”

 

            That didn’t stop Tony from fretting about making home life as comfortable as possible for children during the next few days. Morgan had selected almost exclusively Spider-Man paraphernalia as her school supplies to the point that Tony was unsure if she fully understood that her _brother_ was Spider-Man.

            “Maguna, you do know that you have real life Spider-Man at home with you, right?” he checked again.

            The little girl rolled her eyes at him. “Daddy, that’s the _point_! I can have all my Petey things with me at school too.”

            Obviously. “Oh right, yeah that makes sense.”

            Pepper had been quietly laughing at him from her spot on the couch that morning. “Morgan, Sweetie, you do know that you can’t tell anyone at all about Petey and Gwen being Spider Kids, right?”

            “I know, Mommy,” Morgan’s exaggerated sigh sounded eerily familiar and it took Tony a second to realize that he’d heard the same sigh from himself.

            _Great she’s picking up on my bad habits._ “Where are the Spider Kids anyway?”

            As if on cue, two teenagers came swinging through the family room window. Peter was decked out in his suit from their battle with Thanos, although he’d told Tony that he might switch back to his other one because he didn’t feel like he needed to be able to breathe in space when he was planning on patrolling New York. Gwen, for her part, was in a pink, black, and white combo that had a hood as well as the tell-tale spider designs. Unlike Pete, her footwear resembled ballet shoes and when Tony had asked about it she’d told him about her ballet classes from her own reality.

            “Hey Dad!” they both called as they pulled back their masks.

            “Secret identities need to remain secret,” Pepper chastised. “It’s still light out, why are you two in costume?”

            Gwen grinned. “Not costumes Mom, and we were just a few floors down training in the gym.”

            Pete had already been tackle hugged by Morgan and was currently holding the little girl upside down. “Yeah, it’s really cool to have someone with a similar skillset to train with!”

            “Speaking of skillsets,” Tony locked eyes with Pepper. “Your Mom and I had a thought.”

            “Thinking is a dangerous pass time,” his eldest daughter grinned, but let herself drop onto the couch beside her mother. “What’s up?”

            “We thought you two might like to have some extracurriculars,” his wife explained as she gave Peter a look for tossing his youngest sister far too high up in the air. “We know you did ballet, Gwen, so we thought you might want to take it up again?”

            The teenager’s eyes widened. “What? Really? Oh my gosh, I love dancing!”

            Tony smiled watching his daughter gush at his wife. “Pete, what’d you think of tumbling classes? Could help you out with all those crazy flips you do anyway.”

            The kid was currently helping Morgan execute a handstand on his shoulders. “Tumbling classes? Like Gymnastics? That sounds fun. But I’ll also probably have decathlon, too.”

            “We’ll work around your schedules,” Pepper looked over from where she was showing Gwen dance school options. “I’ve already looked into a few options for you, sweetheart.”

            “That sounds great Mom!” he grinned and pulled his younger sister off of his shoulders and flipping her through the air before setting her down in front of him. “You taking any fancy classes too, Morg?”

            The baby of the family grinned up at him. “Yep! Mommy said I could take dance classes like Gigi and ‘ymnastics like you Petey!”

            “Wow, you’re gonna be a busy little lady,” Pete said with feigned shock.

            “It’s only until she decides what she wants to keep doing,” Tony added. “We figured she’d want to test a few things before deciding.”

            “That’s smart,” Gwen said from her spot next to Pepper. “I like that one, Mom. The studios look really cool.”

            “We’ll set up an appointment to go visit then,” Pepper said making a note on her tablet. “Any preferences for gyms, Pete?”

            “Nah, uh, I trust you,” he shook his head and made for the kitchen. “When’s dinner?”

            Tony rolled his eyes. “In two hours. Are you ever _not_ eating?”

            Peter blushed. “I’m hungry.”

            Pepper laughed. “We know, Pete, and you can help yourself to whatever you want. Just don’t spoil your dinner, okay?”

            “Okay Mom.”

            “Whatever you’re having, I want some too,” Gwen called to him as she pulled Morgan into her lap. “What’d you wanna watch, baby sis?”

            “Hm—science show!” the little girl grinned broadly.

            “Oh! Have you seen Sci-show, Morg? Gigi, pull it up on YouTube, will ya?” Peter said as he walked into the family room with a platter of fruit, poptarts, and three tall glasses of chocolate milk.

            “I was thinking the magic school bus,” his sister said, but she was scrolling through YouTube anyway.

            “We can do both, what do you think Morg?”

            Morgan was already munching on a poptart, but said, “Yef, bof!”

            “Don’t talk with your mouthful, Maguna,” Tony grinned as he watched his kids cuddle together and get completely sucked into the explanation of how someone invented a cheese serving machine.

            He locked eyes with his wife and saw the same glimmer of hope he felt mirrored in them. _Things were going to work out, even with a rocky start._

 

            After they had returned from the Lake House, the kids minus Gwen had rushed to see their rooms because Pepper had told them that they had been renovated. Morgan had never actually lived in New York before so her room needed to be done, Peter’s room had been painted and made more homey, and Pepper had turned one of the guest rooms into Gwen’s room.

            “Aren’t you excited to see your new room, Pumpkin?” Tony had asked his eldest daughter as she had stared around the tower penthouse.

            “I don’t know where anything is,” she admitted softly.

            That had spiraled into a small meltdown, but after all of the big ones at the Lake House, Tony hadn’t even been phased. And Gwen had loved her new room; it was pink, black, and white, just like her suit, and decked out with similar things to Peter’s—a desk, a comfortable chair, the best in Stark tech when it came to her laptop, a huge closet filled with both clothes that Pepper deemed necessary and ones that Gwen much preferred (spoilers, his kids were all the same: hoodies and jeans went a long way); all the things the girl could need.

            “Is there anything we missed?” Pepper had asked when they’d all reconvened for pizza in the kitchen.

            The twins, as he and Pep had started to refer to them as, shook their heads, but Morgan nodded enthusiastically.

            Tony reached down and pulled the little girl up to eye level, settling her on his hip. “What did we miss, Maguna?”

            “Mini fridge,” she said simply, taking another bite out of her pizza.

            Pete chocked on his pizza and Gwen gave him a smack on his back that nearly sent the kid flying.

            Pepper raised a dubious eyebrow. “Why, Morgan, do you need a mini fridge?”

            The four-year-old gave a dramatic sigh. “For Juice-Pops Mommy!”

 

            On Monday morning of the first week of October saw the children waking up at six thirty more or less sharp.

            “Pete, get up and _stay up_!” Tony knocked on his son’s door and then moved to his eldest daughter’s. “Gwen, are you awake, Pumpkin? You need to get ready for school.”

            Pepper, mercifully, had gotten up half an hour ago and was preparing breakfast. “Tony are the kids awake?”

            “Getting there, honey!” he called as he walked into Morgan’s bedroom. “Hey Maguna, it’s time to get up, Little Mess.”

            His baby girl promptly rolled over still wrapped in her comforter and landed on the floor in a pile. “Can we try again tomorrow?”

            “No, Baby, we can’t,” he laughed.

            “Boss, you’ll need to wake Master Stark up again. Ms. Stark is already in the shower,” FRIDAY’s update didn’t come as much of a surprise.

            “Come on, Maguna, we need to wake Petey and get you dress—”

            FRIDAY interrupted him. “Mrs. Stark would like to remind you that Miss Stark needs to have breakfast before she gets dressed in order to minimize collateral damage, Boss.”

            “Gotcha, FRI. Breakfast it is,” he grinned as he pulled his four-year-old up into his arms. “You with me, Baby?”

            “Yes, Daddy,” her smile lit up his world, just like her mother’s.

 

            Peter had to be woken three more times; once after Tony got Morgan settled in the kitchen for pancakes, once because he’d somehow passed out standing up in the shower, and again after he nearly fell asleep face first in his breakfast. But, overall, it wasn’t a terrible morning. There was a small Morgan meltdown over what to wear, which Tony didn’t think was possible given that she had a uniform, but there you have it. In the end, Pepper had given up stating that the school was just going to have to deal with the little girl’s Spider-Man hoodie and that was that. Gwen had two small breakdowns, one over breakfast because she was afraid of messing up at school, but her brother helpfully reminded her that they were in all the same classes and that he’d be there, and another because she missed her own school—that one was harder to deal with, but hugs from Tony and Pepper helped.

            At 7:15, all three kids were dressed to impress and ready to head out the door. Tony didn’t know how he’d also managed to find time to get properly dressed and shaved, but he had. Pepper’s heels clicked down the hall as she too was ready to go.

            “Mr Hogan is downstairs with the car, Boss,” FRIDAY told them helpfully.

            “Alright,” Pepper leaned over and kissed Morgan, then Peter, then Gwen. “You three have a good day. Call if you need anything at all. Your father and I will be right there to pick you up should you need it, okay?”

            All three kids nodded and uttered variations of, “Yes, Mom. Love you Mom.”

            Tony pressed his lips to Peppers briefly. “I love you, do you need me to come in to the office today?”

            She shook her head and rattled off all the answers to the questions he hadn’t ask. “No, it’s fine. I’m going to drive myself, yes I’ll be careful, no you can’t drive the kids yourself because you all need Happy. Yes, Tony, I’ll be okay. Yes, we do need to hire a second bodyguard. I love you, we can do lunch if nothing comes up.”

            “Mrs. Stark it is 7:20AM,” FRIDAY’s voice came through the hidden speakers.

            “Okay!” Tony clapped his hands. “Everybody out the door!”

            Twenty minutes later he was in the passenger seat of the Audi with Happy driving and three kids safely belted in the back as they pulled up to Midtown High School.

            “Do you need me to come in?” he asked for the second—third?—time.

            “No Dad,” Peter shook his head. “We’ll be okay. Look there’s Ned, we’ll go say hi and figure stuff out with Principal Morita.”

            “We’ll be okay, Daddy,” Gwen smiled reassuringly from her spot on Morgan’s other side; the littlest Stark had elected to sit between her older siblings for the ride.

            Tony felt his heart clench. “You’ve both got your watches?”

            He had made all three kids STARK Tech watches that were wired in to FRIDAY and KAREN in case they needed anything. KAREN had become the children’s AI babysitter in his mind, she was his kids’ personal assistant who helped them when they weren’t at home or needed something while he was having FRIDAY work with him in the lab.

            “Yep!” the twins held up their wrists to show him.

            Peter pressed a kiss to Morgan’s forehead. “Have fun at kindergarten, Morg!”

            Gwen kissed her sister on the temple and nodded in agreement. “We’ll see you after school, okay?”

            “Alright, I love you both. Remember you call me if you need _anything_ , alright?” Tony was wracking his brain for what he could have forgotten.

            “Yes, Dad.”

            “We know, Dad.”

            Both kids stepped out of the car and suddenly it hit him. “Oh! Pete, here, this is for both of you!” he pulled the black credit card out of his pocket. “Don’t lose it.”

            His son blinked, looked at the credit card, and then promptly handed it to his sister. “You keep it, Gigi.”

            To her credit, Gwen didn’t balk, instead she stuffed it into her backpack and tugged on her pink, black, and white hoodie strings a little nervously. “Okay, Dad. We’ll be careful with it.”

            Tony nodded. “Okay, go on. We still need to get, Maguna to school today.”

            Even though he had sent them on their way, he felt his heart breaking; why was it so hard to watch his kids walk away from him even if it was only for a few hours?

            _I can’t protect them in there_. A nagging thought crept into his mind, but another voice sounding suspiciously like Pepper silenced it. _You don’t need to protect them from everything, they’re going to be okay. Let them find ways to protect themselves._

            He’d give that a shot before he had FRIDAY hack Midtown High’s security system.

 

            “Daddy, maybe we can go home,” Morgan said softly as they walked into Savant Stars School for Gifted Children.

            They had entered through the administrative entrance and his little girl wasn’t terribly interested in anything she had seen so far. “Baby, it’s going to be okay and if you don’t like it, then I’ll come get you. I promise. But, you need to promise to try it first, okay?”

            She looked up at him with big trusting brown eyes. “Okay Daddy, I’ll try.”

            It hit him that Morgan had never been away from him or Pepper for an extended period of time and even when she had it was usually because Happy was watching her. Pepper had contemplated coming to the kids’ first day, but she had—in a very rare moment emotional weakness—admitted that if she went the children wouldn’t be entering the buildings at all. He had laughed until he realized she was serious; Pepper didn’t want her children to leave the safety of the tower any more than he did. Still, they needed to go to school and that was that.

Instead of betraying his apprehension, he put a smile on his face and said, “We’re going to go meet your teacher, alright?”

            “Okay.”

            “Mr. Stark!” a young secretary greeted enthusiastically. “We’ve been expecting you and your daughter. Hello, I’m Hannah, I’m the secretary here so if you ever need to call your Mommy or Daddy you can just tell me.”

            Morgan blinked up at her and said nothing.

            “Why don’t you introduce yourself, Maguna?” Tony prodded gently.

            The little girl took a deep breath. “Hi, I’m Morgan H. Stark, it’s nice to meet you Hannah.”

            “It’s very nice to meet you too, Miss Stark. Why don’t you and your Dad come see your classroom?” Hannah asked the little girl.

            “Okay, but Daddy can stay. Right?” Morgan seemed unsure.

            The woman nodded. “For a little while, yes. But then he’ll go do work and come back to get you at the end of the day. While your Dad is at work, we’ll be playing games and doing science experiments.”

            That caught her attention. “You do science here?”

            “We sure do,” Hannah smiled reassuringly.

            The secretary led them through colourful hallways filled with painted murals and different glass cases with art projects and science projects on display. Tony and Pepper had come to visit the school to ensure that it was where they wanted to send their daughter and they had not been disappointed. In fact, if he had been even slightly unsure about this place, Morgan would not have been here.

            “This is your classroom, number 3000, do you think you can remember that?” Hannah asked Morgan as they stopped in front of an open door with the numbers in bright red on it.

            His daughter nodded enthusiastically. “I like that number. It’s how much I love Daddy!”

            Tony grinned. “I love you too, Maguna.”

            “I love you THREE thousand, Daddy,” Morgan grinned as she hugged him.

            “Let’s go inside, okay?” Hannah suggested as she led the way.

            There were three teachers in the room watching over about twenty kids. Hannah pulled each one aside one at a time and introduced Morgan and Tony to them, all of the adults payed extra close attention to speak to Morgan first—Tony had been informed that they would do this because it was important for her to know that she was in charge of herself at school. The two female teachers were Ms. Ginny and Ms. Erika, and the male teacher was Mr. Xander.

            “Daddy, I want to go play with the blocks over there,” Morgan told him resolutely when they stepped out of the classroom again to speak to Hannah.

            He nodded encouragingly. “Alright, how about you go do that and I’ll see you in a few hours?”

            “You promise?” the little girl seemed a little apprehension.

            Tony knelt down in front of her. “Morgan H. Stark, I give you my word, Daddy’s honour, that you will see me at the end of the school day. Cross my heart, Baby girl.”

            Morgan nodded. “I love you Daddy.”

            “I love you, Maguna. Now go have fun!”

            Ms. Erika stood in the doorway and held out her hand. “How about we go say hi to Jacob and Mariah over by the blocks?”

            Morgan took the teacher’s hand and waved good bye to him before walking back into the classroom.

            Tony thought his knees might give out, he felt his eyes fill with tears, but coughed and pulled tinted glasses out of his pocket. “The kids seem a little older than her, in there.”

            Hannah smiled reassuringly as she led the way back to the front of the school. “Yes, Morgan has been placed in a grade two-three classroom setting. The student closest to her age is Gabrielle, she just turned six. I believe you said Morgan will be celebrating her fifth birthday soon?”

            He nodded. “Yeah, November twelfth. I’m sorry, you said grade two-three?”

            “After her assessment at your home, with Ms. Gardner, we determined that Morgan was in our grade three range, even for a gifted child she is very advanced, however it seemed harmful to her psychological and sociological development to place her in a classroom with ten year olds. Instead, we opted to place her in our blended grade two-to-three classroom where she would be able to experience learning with children closer to her age,” Hannah explained carefully.

            Tony nodded. “How old are the kids in her class?”

            “Our grade two-three classroom is a little varied as it encompasses very gifted children like Morgan as well as a few of our late bloomers,” the woman smiled. “Morgan is the youngest, but the ages in her classroom are from six to eight years old. She will be watched over and cared for, Mr. Stark, I assure you.”

            _It’s okay. She’s safe and happy, if she isn’t you’ll know._ He reminded himself as they reached the front doors.

            “Good, good. Ah, just one thing.”

            “Of course,” she looked at him expectantly.

            “Morgan has a watch, it’s STARKTech and pink, it’s water proof and all, she shouldn’t ever take it off,” Tony tried to stress the importance of it without seeming crazy, he wasn’t entirely sure it worked.

            Hannah smiled knowingly. “We’ll make a note of it, Mr. Stark. Have a good day.”

            He nodded. “Yeah, you too.”

 

            Happy had been staring at him since he re-entered the car and told him to drive back to the tower. “You okay, Boss?”

            “Yeah fine, just dandy, why?” he shot back a little irritably.

            Happy didn’t seem to take it too personally, however. “Well, it’s just, you’ve been full-time Irondad-ing it for the past two and a half months and now the kids are off at school.”

            Tony blinked. “Irondad-ing it?”

            “Yeah,” his long time friend grinned a little. “The kid said it and, uh, it caught on with everyone.”

            “ _Everyone?_ ”

            “Uh, well—”

            “Nevermind, Hap. It’s fine,” he sighed exasperatedly.

            _Irondad-ing it, huh?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I hope you enjoyed the ride! Against the better judgement of everyone in my life, I am CONTINUING THIS FIC because it's too fun not to. So stay tuned for the next chapter!
> 
> As always, comments are super welcome, especially since I'm always looking for new ways to add to this AU.


	10. First Days and Findings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's first day goes off with a bang. Almost literally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I wanted to keep writing and...Well this is the ultimate franken chapter because it's like 12k words long!  
> THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW: 1. Morgan Stark is Austistic and it is discussed in this chapter, I have based Morgan's experience with autism off of my own and I will NOT be taking ANY crap about autism in the comments, got it? Don't like it, leave. 2. I'll update a little more sporadically now since I don't have any more pre-written chapters.

**Chapter Ten: First Days and Findings**

Tony made it back home by 9AM, which was pretty impressive considering how long he’d spent with Morgan at her school. Still, it was nice to have some downtime without a kid or another needing him to _‘Dad look at this!’_ or _‘Daddy look at me!’_ or _‘Dad I’m hungry!’_ …his entire life had been his kids for the last two months.

“Hey FRI pull up Gwen’s suit specs, she wants to go out with Pete,” he called to his AI as he headed down to the lab to change into some work clothes that weren’t his three-piece suit.

_These kids are gonna make me grey_ , he thought as the doors to the lab opened up.

“Boss, you have an urgent call,” FRIDAY told him.

“What, from who?” he was already reaching for one of the holo-screens to answer it however.

“Number unknown,” she replied. “Shall I put it through?”

“Alright, yeah,” unknown numbers didn’t have his contact information nor did they have clearance to call him, but FRIDAY said it was urgent. “Stark.”

“T-Tony?” a very scared, very _young_ sounding voice asked from the other end. “Tony, it’s Harley…from Tennessee…”

“Harley!” he felt like a bucket load of ice water had been dropped on his head. “What’s going on, kid? Are you okay?”

A shallow breath was taken on the other end of the line. “I—I’m sorry, I just didn’t know who to call, a-and I need help, I’m so hungry and it’s starting to get cold, but I don’t know—”

Panic, Tony was now _very_ familiar with what a panicking child sounded like. “Hey, hey, Harls, _breathe_.”

“Okay.”

“Now, just answer my questions, buddy, alright?” he could do this, he _had_ been doing this for weeks now. “Where’s your Mom, Harley?”

Silence.

“Kiddo?”

“She’s dead. After—after my sister died of leukemia, you—” the kid let out a sob. “You remember?”

“I do remember, kiddo, Pepper and I were at the funeral,” Tony said softly.

Harley swallowed thickly. “After everything, and I disappeared, my mom she—she died.”

_Suicide_ , Tony thought mournfully; there had been too many to really keep track of in those terrible days after the first snap. “Okay, buddy, it’s gonna be alright Harley. Where are you?”

“I, um, Chicago?” the kid didn’t sound sure. “Well near it, I think?”

“FRI, track—”

She cut him off. “Already have, Boss. Location is on your screen; a car has been dispatched from _Elite’s Personal Drivers_.”

“Great, okay, Harley?”

“Yeah Tony?”

“I called a car service to pick you up, buddy. You should be here in a few hours, okay?”

“Tony, I don’t want to bother—”

“You are _not_ bothering me, alright?”

Harley still sounded apprehensive. “Is it the black car that just pulled up? How did you do that so fast?”

“Boss, that’s the car. I have the GPS linked to your screen and have confirmed that Harley is in fact the person to pick up.”

“That’s my girl.” Bless FRI for all her quick thinking. “I’m a genius, Kid, yes that’s the car. And, Harley, I’m a mechanic, you called with a problem that needed fixing right?”

“Yeah…” the kid didn’t sound convinced.

“Kiddo, this is what I do. I fix stuff, that’s what mechanics do.”

“Okay, yeah,” he agreed. “So I get into the car and then what?”

Tony glanced at the screen where FRIDAY had pulled up the itinerary. “You’re in the car?”

“Um yeah,” Harley confirmed and Tony heard the background noise change from the loud street to the quiet interior.

“Good, the driver is going to take you to an airstrip, you’re gonna get on one of my private planes and then it’ll bring you here. I’ll have someone pick you up from there, okay?” he tried to sound confident, sure of what was going to happen; this was another kid who needed a _parent_ , an _adult_ who knew what they were doing—where was Pepper when this stuff happened?

“Okay, yeah.”

Some of the things Harley had said suddenly rang a bell for Tony; _cold, hungry_...“How long have you been on the street?”

There was silence for a few seconds. “About a month, maybe a little more? I was at a shelter for a while, but…I’m sorry, Tony.”

“You don’t need to be sorry, Kiddo,” he reassured him. “It’s going to be okay from here on out, alright?”

“Alright,” the kid sounded like he was crying again.

“When was the last time you slept?”

“A-a while.”

“Try to get some sleep, okay? Call me back if you need anything else. I’ll see you soon, buddy.”

“Okay, bye Tony.”

He hung up.

“FRI keep me up to date on all of everything involving the kid,” he told his AI as he pulled up Gwen’s suits’ specs.

“Which kid, Boss?” Sassy AI.

“All of them,” he sighed and zoomed in on one of her web-shooters.

An hour later, Tony was still in his three piece suit minus the jacket, working out the changes he would be making to Gwen’s suit and linking KAREN into it at the same time. KAREN was already linked to all the kids’ watches and was basically just their AI babysitter when FRIDAY was unavailable.

“Boss, Steve is on the line,” FRIDAY said.

“Put him through,” Tony replied pulling safety goggles over his eyes as he started on the spider suit modifications.

“Hey Tony.”

“Rogers, what’s up?”

There was a laugh and Tony looked up to see that FRI had patched him through as a video call. “Just calling to see how the move, settling in, and the kids is going?”

“Pretty good,” he couldn’t help but smile. “The kids are all off at school, it’s quiet around here. Pepper’s back at work and I’m down in my lab. How’s the new compound coming?”

“Good, actually, should be ready in a few weeks. I don’t know how much you’re paying those guys, but—” Steve actually sounded impressed.

“Trust me, they’re just doing their jobs and being compensated for how quickly everything needs to go back up,” Tony said. “Are you sure you guys don’t want to move back into the tower until it’s done?”

The avengers had all scattered to the winds, into small apartments or in Wakanda if they didn’t have families to return to.

Steve shook his head. “Nah, we’re okay. Nat and Wanda aren’t too eager to move again so we’ll be okay here, for now.”

“Where is _here_ anyway?” _Nat and Wanda, that’s new._

“Just a small place in Brooklyn,” his friend admitted carefully. “We’re doing the incognito thing and its nice.”

Tony nodded, incognito was nice, he didn’t know how much longer the kids would be able to enjoy not being recognized as _Tony Stark’s kids_. “I get that. So, what’s up with you and Nat? Is it a thing? Or is it just a _thing_?”

“Wha—” Steve choked.

“I’m _trying_ to be casual here, Cap, throw me a line,” he grinned closing the port on the web-shooter he was working on and adding. “I’m really glad me from another reality is good at building suits, I don’t have to completely overhaul this one.”

Rogers looked like he was going to be a little ill. “Nat and I are…”

“No one’s breaking any bi-laws, Steve. I’m just asking,” the truth was, Natasha deserved some happiness in her life and Bruce was not in the picture as far as he could tell, besides Steve—just objectively—seemed like a better fit the notorious Black Widow.

“We’re figuring it out, Tony. She’s really focused on Wanda right now—the poor kid deserves some normal in her life, she can’t catch a break. She’s turning twenty in a few days,” Steve said softly. “Nat’s been trying to get her to take some online classes at NYU or something, anything to bring her back into the world, you know?”

Tony nodded. “Kids need stability, they want people who know what they’re doing to help them make decisions when they don’t know what to do.”

“Wanda’s not really a kid,” his friend sighed.

“She’s a kid compared to us, Steve,” he didn’t like admitting he was old, but Wanda was _young_ and needed help. “Help her pick out a class or two, what did you like to do in school?”

“Not die of polio,” Steve answered smirking. “I liked art.”

Tony snorted, but then looked pensive. “Alright, well, maybe encourage her to take an art class or a photography class, or whatever.”

“Aren’t we not supposed to live vicariously through our kids?” Steve raised an eyebrow.

“She’s your kid?” he grinned.

“I mean—shit—”

“ _Language_ my good Captain.”

“She’s…she’s more like Nat’s kid,” Steve admitted quietly. “I’m just around, making breakfast and trying to get her to stop watching TV all the time.”

Tony nodded. “Well, take her out for a walk or something. At least she’s not calling you Mr. Rogers all the time. You’re gonna be in a relationship with her mom, then you need to step it up a little.”

Steve was looking at him like he’d grown two heads. “Tony…”

“Theoretically, you’re theoretically going to be in a relationship with Wanda’s sort-of mother so you should _theoretically_ step it up,” he amended quickly.

“You’re being weirdly wise right now, Stark.”

Tony grinned. “I’m a family man now, remember? No super-heroing for me, nothing aside from lab time, garage time, and making supper. Maybe some museum trips with the kids. God, I’m a damn trophy husband to a multi-billion-dollar CEO.”

“I’m glad your family is doing well, Tony,” Steve smiled. “They’re lucky to have you.”

He shook his head as he wrapped up the modifications on Gwen’s suit; it was officially ready for action. “I’m the lucky one, I have the best wife and the greatest kids—”

“Boss, urgent call from Midtown Science and Technology,” FRIDAY interrupted.

“Steve, I gotta go, the twins’ school is calling,” he didn’t give the man a chance to reply as he hung up and switched lines. “Tony Stark.”

“H-hello, Mr. Stark, I’m Jean Stevenson from Midtown Science and Technology, your—your children have gotten into an altercation and we need you to come in, sir,” the woman sounded nervous.

Not as nervous as Tony, who simply said. “Give me five minutes.” And hung up.

“Boss,” FRIDAY said. “You should roll down your sleeves, put your jacket back on, and inform Mr. Hogan that he will need to pick up Harley from the airport before you leave.”

“Right, thanks FRI.”

 

Peter smiled reassuringly at his sister as they stepped away from their dad’s car. It was strange and weirdly okay to have a sister at school; sure, Gigi was nervous and didn’t know anyone else, but MJ and Ned would like her. Having a dad instead of an aunt was—well, he wasn’t sure how he felt yet. Tony and Pepper were great and they loved him, but he still missed May and coming back to school without her…

_It’s fine,_ he took a deep breath and willed his eyes to stop welling up.

Gwen slipped her hand into his. “It’s hard to be back here, I know.”

“Yeah?” he choked and brushed his sleeve over his eyes.

She nodded. “ _My_ Midtown is gone. Forever.  So are all my friends. It’s hard to be here and think of that loss.”

Her loss seemed to dwarf his in so many ways. “I’m sorry—”

“No, Petey, I mean,” his sister took a breath and flashed him a half-hearted smile. “Everyone’s loss is equal, it just all sucks; you know? So, you’re not alone.”

Peter felt his heart clench a little, but it wasn’t bad. “I’ve got your back, too. Okay?”

“Yeah okay.”

“Hey Peter!” Ned waved and started jogging over to meet them.

He didn’t make it before Flash, however. “Hey Penis, who’s your girlfriend?”

Peter sighed. “Remember I told you about Flash?”

“Eugene,” Gigi nodded.

“Hey, Penis, I’m talking to you!” Flash didn’t back down at not being acknowledged, he wouldn’t; instead, he got right in their faces.

“Flash,” he gritted his teeth. “This is my sister, Gwen.”

“Sister? You’re an _orphan_ only child, Penis. Or did you forget?”

He could _hear_ Gigi rolling her eyes even though he kept his eyes on Flash. “Pete, who is this? And why is he so ugly?”

Flash choked.

Peter put his arm around his sister. “This is Eugene Thompson, and your guess is as good as mine. Oh look, there’s Ned. Let’s go say hi.”

Gwen smirked. “Huh. Well bye Eugene.”

They were walking towards Ned before Flash recovered. “My name is Flash, not—”

“He’s a piece of work,” Gwen frowned now that they were facing away from him.

Peter nodded. “Just ignore him, he’s not an actual problem unless you let him become one.”

“Pete!” Ned had still been hurrying towards them. “Hey man, are you okay?”

He gave his best friend a hug. “Yeah, I’m alright. Sorry about falling off the face of the earth, things have been a bit—busy.”

Ned nodded and lowered his voice a fraction. “Yeah, living with Iron Man has to be crazy!”

“Shhhh!” Peter shushed him out of habit. “Ned, let’s not talk about that right now, okay? Gigi and I have to go get our stuff from the office, wanna come?”

His friend nodded. “MJ’s waiting over there,” he pointed. “Who’s Gigi?”

Gwen waved shyly and Peter instantly felt bad for not addressing that first. “Oh, right. This is my sister, Gwen. Gwen, I told you about my best friend Ned, right?”

His sister grinned. “Only like a hundred times, Petey. It’s nice to meet you.”

Ned nodded dumbly. “Wow, you’re really pretty—I mean it’s nice to meet you too.”

Peter snickered. “Ned, she’s my _sister_. So don’t be gross.”

“Pete, there is _no way_ I’m dealing with you as an over protective brother,” Gwen rolled her eyes and started moving towards MJ. “Let’s go say hi to your other friend?”

He nodded.

MJ took one look at Gwen and went. “Peter’s sister?”

“Yep,” Ned nodded.

“Hi loser, it’s good you’re okay,” MJ gave him a quick hug and turned to Gwen. “Nice to meet you.”

Gwen smiled. “You’re MJ right? I’m Gwen.”

“Your hair is cool,” the other girl said in her usual uninterested tone.

“Thanks, I like your sweater,” his sister responded kindly.

And just like that they were all friends.

The day went by smoothly, Math, English, then free period—during which Flash pushed Peter into the lockers by bumping into him, effectively pissing Gwen off—Chemistry was fun because he got to team up with Gwen and the two of them got the in class assignment done in half the time it took the rest of the class and that was really great.

Lunch _had_ been going well until Flash accosted him and Gwen. “Hey Penis, how much are you paying her to stay with you?”

“Flash, back off,” he sighed, why couldn’t Flash have just graduated instead of disappearing during the snap. “Leave my sister alone.”

Instead of listening, Flash made to put his arm around Gwen, “C’mon I can show you a _really_ good time.”

Without even thinking, Peter pushed him away from her; Gigi was his sister and he was supposed to protect her, no one was touching her without her expressed consent, which she _had not_ given. “Flash, _back the hell off_.”

Pushing had been a bad move because it made the other boy angry. “You wanna go, Penis?” before Peter could even respond a solid fist connected with his cheek right under his eye, barely missing his nose.

He recoiled, more out of instinct and surprise rather than force, but that left enough of an opening for Gwen to get in between them.

Gwen looked livid, “ _Leave my brother alone you creep!_ ” and without warning she punched the _much_ larger boy in the face so hard he fell back onto his ass.

_Oh no_ , was all Peter could think before teachers were swarming them.

“She hit me!” Flash was screaming, more in shock than anything probably.

But Gwen had started crying, which was unusual because his sister did _not_ cry in public.

They were ushered off to the school’s administration wing, where he and Gwen were placed in a separate room from Flash while their parents were called.

“He—He’s going to give me up,” Gwen whispered as they sat in chairs side by side.

Peter blinked, _god his face hurt_. “No he’s not, Gigi. You know Dad’s not like that, you _know_ it. Besides, I’m going to be in _so much_ trouble for fighting.”

“Yeah, but _I_ hit him and you know we shouldn’t hit civ—people,” his sister reasoned as she wiped her eyes. “He’s gonna be so mad. Oh god, _Pepper_.”

“Look, you might have to apologize, but I’m sure Mom and Dad won’t be too mad—I mean you’re sorry you hit him, right?” he tried to calm her by slinging on arm around her shoulder.

Gigi curled into him, “I’m really not. I didn’t hit him _hard_ or anything and he’s an asshole.”

Peter sighed. “You might have to pretend you’re sorry you hit him.”

His sister made a face. “He hurt you, Petey. I’m not going to be sorry for making him back off.”

“Look, that doesn’t matter. Mom and Dad aren’t going to give you up because you got into a fight, okay?”

“You either,” she agreed, but kept hugging him.

 

Tony was in the car, pulling up to midtown when FRIDAY in his purple tinted glasses went off, “Boss, Miss Stark appears to be in distress.”

“Define distress,” he gritted his teeth.

“Her heart rate has sped up and she is exhibiting signs of anxiety, however her surroundings are safe and she remains at school under the supervision of her teachers.”

“So she’s safe?”

“Yes, Boss. I believe she is having an Iron Princess episode,” Tony was too stressed to determine whether the amusement he detected in the AI’s voice was real or imagined.

Morgan occasionally had terrible tantrums that exhausted her, the family had dubbed them Iron Princess episodes because afterwards she was completely fine, if tired. “Keep monitoring the situation and let me know, FRI. I gotta deal with this.”

“On it, Boss.”

_Now what fresh hell is this?_ Tony wondered as he walked into the school’s administrative wing.

“Mr. Stark,” the principal greeted him and led him into his office, the man wasn’t smiling, but he was _trying_ to appear pleasant so Tony gave him points for that. “I’m sorry to have to see you under these circumstances.”

Tony _had_ made a large donation to the school recently so he supposed the man felt indebted to him somehow, but he simply nodded. “My kids got into a fight?”

Principal Morita nodded. “With Mr. Thompson—it appears that the three were having some sort of verbal disagreement that got out of control.”

“Thompson…” Tony paused trying to remember. “Oh, that Flash kid that’s always bothering Pete?”

The other man froze. “Always bothering, sir?”

“Yeah,” Tony nodded as he remembered the footage FRIDAY had shown him of Peter explaining to Gwen why they were going to avoid Flash at all costs. “He’s always pushing him into lockers, breaking his stuff, and bullying him. I meant to talk to you about that if it continued. What happened?”

“I, well, I don’t know about any of that, Mr. Stark, but it appears that one of your children—although they cannot seem to agree on who—punched Mr. Thompson and gave him a nasty black eye.”

“Hm,” Tony nodded, he couldn’t say he felt terribly sorry for the other kid, but _his_ kids knew better than to punch non-superheroes. “I’ll need to speak with them.”

“Yes, ah, it would appear, however, that Mr. Thompson _also_ punched Mr. Parker—”

Tony blinked and, in spite of his external calm, rounded on the man. “You should have _led_ with that! Where are they?”

Wisely, the principal led him to the room where Peter and Gwen were sitting in what looked to be extremely uncomfortable chairs.

“Kids?” Tony said as he knelt in front of them, trying to get a better look at Peter.

“Hi Dad,” Pete said a little guiltily.

“He hit you,” it wasn’t a question.

His son nodded and he turned his face to show Tony an ugly purple bruise on his cheekbone, an icepack lay on the seat beside him. “It doesn’t hurt too bad.”

Tony sighed. “What’s the story?”

The principal was still standing in the doorway. “I unfortunately, can’t get the children’s stories to match up, at all. You see, Mr. Stark, Mr. Thompson insists that Mr. Parker hit him and he reached out and accidentally hit him as he fell. However, Mr. Parker insists that he hit Mr. Thompson after he was harassing Ms. Stacey. And,” the principal looked so tired and confused. “Ms. Stacey insists that she hit Mr. Thompson after he was harassing her and had punched Mr. Parker.”

“That’s the one,” Tony replied not looking away from his children. “Peter wouldn’t hit anyone, ever. It’s not in his nature.”

“I see,” Morita said with a conflicted tone. “However, Mr. Thompsons parents will arrive very shortly and insist that their son is telling the truth. Therefore, Mr. Stark, your word on your child’s nature is insufficient to corroborate the story.”

Tony nodded. “Gwen, will you look at me?”

His daughter didn’t move from her position hiding in her brother’s shoulder.

“Gwendolyn M. Stark,” he raised an eyebrow.

That got her moving, she peaked out at him. “Hi Daddy.”

“There’s my girl,” he brushed a blond lock out of her face. “Did you hit Flash, Pumpkin?”

She nodded. “He hit Petey.”

“I know, he did,” Tony agreed and dropped a kiss on her forehead. “But, _you_ know that hitting is wrong.”

“I do,” she replied quietly, it was obvious from her red rimmed eyes that she had been crying.

Just as Tony was going to answer, another child barrelled into the room yelling, “It wasn’t their fault! Flash started it!”

Tony looked up to see Michelle Jones trying to get past the principal. “You have proof, Michelle?”

The girl nodded. “Felicity got the whole thing on her phone!”

Tony had never seen Michelle so worked up about anything in his life.

Morita sighed. “We can take a look at the footage, Ms. Jones.”

“I have her phone; she gave it to me when we had to split up to get away from Ms. Stevenson,” the girl proudly held up a pink cellphone.

Tony frowned and looked at his daughter. “Did you want a pink Starkphone, Pumpkin? I just got you the same one as Petey, I didn’t think to ask—”

“Dad,” Peter poked him. “We’re in trouble for fighting, remember?”

“Oh right,” he nodded. “But you’ll tell me if you want a pink one, okay?”

There was his daughter’s smile. “Yes, Dad. I’ll tell you.”

“Alright, FRI project the video please?” He asked his AI as he turned to face a blank wall.

Immediately the video from the phone was projected onto the wall by his glasses. It showed Flash coming up to Peter and Gwen and caught some of what he was saying.

_“—stay with you?”_

_“Flash, back off. Leave my sister alone.”_

The video caught Flash making very unwarranted advances on Gwen and Peter pushing him off, followed by the altercation.

Tony felt anger bubble up inside of him as he turned towards Morita. “You’re telling me that kind of sexual harassment happens at this school? What kind of third rate institution are you running?”

“Daddy,” Gwen stood up and reached for him.

He pulled his daughter into his arms. “No, Pumpkin, this is _not_ the kind of place I want you in.”

“Mr. Stark, I assure you that this is the very last time your children will be facing such harassment under my watch,” the principal looked mortified and angry himself. “I will be having some very strong words with Mr. Thompson and his parents—”

“WHERE IS MY SON?” a voice bellowed. “I WANT TO SEE THE PRINCIPAL IMMEDIATELY.”

Tony raised an eyebrow.

“I will return shortly, Ms. Jones, if you would allow me to—” Morita reached for the phone.

“I’ve already had my AI send it to your email account, Felicity probably wants her phone back, not to mention to be bailed out of whatever trouble she’s gotten into,” Tony remarked and winked at MJ. “Oh, Michelle, you can let Ned know that I’ll be taking Gwen and Peter home for the rest of the day.”

“Of course, Mr. Stark,” the girl said tonelessly, but she smiled at the twins before leaving. “Bye guys.”

Principal Morita nodded and left the room.

Tony took a seat between Peter and Gwen and wrapped his arms around both of them. “You two okay? Pete you should put the icepack back.”

“It’ll heal, Dad,” his son rolled his eyes covertly as he put the ice back on his face. “How much trouble are we in?”

Gwen nodded and looked up at him. “Yeah, I’m sorry…sort of. I know you’re upset about me hitting Flash, and even if I didn’t hit him _hard_ or anything, I’m sorry you’re upset.”

“But not sorry you hit him?” Tony grinned a little.

Peter snorted as Gwen said, “Definitely not and lying is wrong.”

“Good, the jerk deserved it. Especially if you were in control and didn’t use all your strength. _But_ you still aren’t allowed to punch anyone, Gwen. It’s not okay to hit people because they’re stupid.”

Both his kids nodded and repeated in tandem. “Don’t hit people because they’re stupid. Even if they deserve it.”

He smiled. “God, these chairs are uncomfortable—how long have you two been in here?”

“About fifteen minutes before you came,” Peter answered checking his StarkWatch.

“I think that’s punishment enough,” Tony nodded.

Gwen giggled. “Uncomfortable chairs for fifteen minutes?”

“They basically put you in Time-Out in hell,” he defended. “The walls aren’t even stimulating. I can feel myself losing brain cells in here.”

That got Peter going as well, but then he sobered. “Flash’s dad is really yelling a lot.”

Tony blinked, but Gwen nodded. “Yeah, he’s really mad.”

_They can hear him through the walls_. “Hey, guys, that isn’t your fault or your problem. Okay? Flash made bad choices and you two made choices to have each others’ backs. Right?”

Both kids nodded.

“Good, now remember; lying is wrong and you shouldn’t do it unless its warranted. And it’s _never_ warranted when you’re talking to Pepper or me, capeesh?”

“Don’t lie to you or Mom, use correct judgement when lying to anyone else,” Peter repeated.

Gwen nodded. “No lying unless it’s important, and it’s never important enough to lie to you or Pep—Mom.”

Tony nodded; Gwen still had some trouble remembering to call Pepper Mom, but she’d fallen in very easily with calling him Dad or Daddy, he wondered if it was because—from what his wife had told him—Pepper hadn’t been a big part of her life in the other reality.

Principal Morita returned after that. “You’re free to go. Mr. Thompson and his parents have left. He will not be returning to school for the rest of the week and afterwards is on strict instruction not to disturb Mr. Parker or Ms. Stacey.”

The children went by their original surnames at school so as to give them privacy, however Tony assumed that as soon as the media got wind of his children he would have the names properly changed on the transcripts.

“Alright,” he stood up and the children did the same. “Now, I’m no expert, but I assume there is a consequence for pushing and punching another child?”

The principal looked pensive. “You’ve spoken to them about it, I assume?”

Tony nodded.

The man then turned to the children. “What you did was in self defense so it will slide _this once_ , however it is _never_ to happen again, understood? If you have a problem, you _must_ go to an adult.”

“Yes, sir,” both teenagers agreed willingly.

Tony raised an eyebrow and held up a hand as the principal made to continue.

Obediently, Gwen repeated. “I’m not in trouble for this one time, but I’m not supposed to hit anyone at school again. If something is wrong, I need to get an adult.”

Peter followed suit. “I’m not supposed to push or hit anyone at school, ever. I’m not in trouble now, but if there’s another problem I need to go find an adult instead of trying to handle it myself.”

“Good,” Tony smiled satisfied. “Go on, Mr. Morita.”

The principal looked impressed. “That will be all, Mr. Stark. The children are free to go retrieve their things and go home with you.”

“Shoo,” he waved Gwen and Peter off, they didn’t need to be told twice. “I do have something to propose.”

The other man motioned for him to continue.

“I don’t like that my children’s proof of innocence came from another teenager having the sense to film a fight. I’d like to upgrade your school’s security system.”

“I don’t know if we can accept such a generous offer, Mr. Stark—”

“It will be solely for my peace of mind. I don’t like my children being in unsafe situations,” Tony continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted. “My people will be in touch.”

“O-of course, Mr. Stark.”

“Have a nice day, Mr. Morita,” Tony stepped from the room and out to the front doors by the secretary’s office to wait for his children.

“Boss, there is a call from Savant Stars School for Gifted Children,” FRIDAY said in his ear.

“Put it through. Stark,” he answered as the line connected.

The voice on the other end was that of Hannah, the secretary. “Mr. Stark, it appears that your daughter is in extreme distress and we can’t calm her down. Would you be able to come pick her up? She hasn’t been hurt or anything as far as we can tell—”

“It happens,” Tony said reassuringly. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

A few minutes later, he was ushering Gwen and Peter into the Audi and answering another call, this time from Happy, in his headset, “Hey Hap.”

“Boss, the kid just arrived we’re walking into the tower—how many do you have now? Kids, not towers.”

“Very funny, Hap, I had to go pick up the twins and I’m on my way to get Maguna; she had an Iron Princess moment at school.”

“ _Shit_.”

“Yeah, could you get him settled in the guest room? I think the personal shopper left everything with the receptionist so you need to pick that up before you go up.”

“I got it Boss,” Happy replied a little exasperatedly. “You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. Just gotta get Morgan before she destroys all her street cred.”

“She’s four, Boss, she doesn’t have street cred.”

Tony snorted. “Bye Happy.”

The twins were uncharacteristically quiet in the backseat.

“You two okay?”

They nodded.

Peter piped up. “Is Morg okay?”

“We’re going to get her, I don’t know what set off her meltdown,” he admitted. “But, it’ll be fine, alright? You two don’t need to worry about grown up stuff.”

“But we _do_ worry about our sister,” Gwen reasoned.

“You can worry about helping her feel better,” he compromised, all the parenting books said that he had to give the kids some sort of control without letting them feel like it was all on them. “Mom and I will handle the cause and cure for the melting down.”

God, he hoped there was a cure. Morgan had at least two or three meltdowns a week, surely that was too many for an almost-five-year-old.

“Okay.”

“Hey, Pumpkin, you never said; pink phone or is the black one okay?” distractions were key with these kids.

Gwen smiled a little at that. “This one is fine, Dad. I’ll just get a cool case for it at some point.”

He nodded as they pulled into the parking lot. “You could design and 3D print one, if you want. I think we might have the stuff for that in R&D.”

That got the two kids grinning and chatting about what they could get up to in R&D. Tony physically felt them relax when that happened.

“Okay, I’m gonna be a minute or do you want to come in?”

“Come in,” Peter said immediately.

Gwen looked a little uncertain, but nodded and unbuckled. “We can come in with you.”

As soon as they entered, they heard her.

Morgan was screaming at the top of her lungs in Ms. Ginny’s arms, the woman looked a little frazzled, but was speaking quietly to the little girl and pacing with her.

“I WANT MY DADDY!”

“I know sweetie, your Daddy is on his way,” the woman was saying as they walked in.

Tony immediately reached for her. “Maguna, baby, I’m right here.”

Morgan didn’t quiet immediately, instead she kept crying in his arms for a good five more minutes while Tony paced and rocked her. Eventually, however, she did calm to sniffles and little sobs.

Peter stepped forward and said in a very quiet voice, “Hey Morg, it’s gonna be okay.”

His youngest child nodded and reached for her brother. “Petey.”

With Morgan handed off, Tony tossed the keys to Gwen and said quietly, “I’m going to speak to Ms. Ginny now, why don’t the three of you get settled into the car?”

Morgan made a noise of protest, but Peter said, “Daddy’s gonna be a minute, Morg. Just a little minute.”

Gwen smiled and added in a soft voice. “Besides, me and Petey can’t drive yet so we’re not going anywhere until Daddy gets into the car. Okay?”

The little girl didn’t answer but she closed her eyes and held onto her brother.

“See you in a second, Dad,” Pete said as he motioned for Gwen to follow him out to the car.

Ms. Ginny had been waiting patiently with Morgan’s backpack in her hand, the woman smiled kindly and said, “Mr. Stark, Morgan did very well this morning, but she seemed to have some trouble changing activities. Do you notice anything similar at home?”

Tony froze, this wasn’t where he’d been expecting the conversation to go; in truth, Morgan needed to be warned a good half hour before meal time in order for it to not lead to meltdown, and he and Pepper had found that they couldn’t send her immediately off to bed, they had to ease into it.

“She, ah, yeah she’s usually really focused and doesn’t like to be taken out of it. Guess she’s like me in that way,” he smiled fondly.

“We’ll keep that in mind for tomorrow, however that isn’t what set off her meltdown today,” the woman said calmly, she was being genuinely pleasant and Tony was confused by that.

“Does this happen a lot?” he asked bluntly. “You’re so unphazed by the whole thing. It usually takes hours for people to calm down when they’ve been subject to—well, to Morgan’s tantrums.”

She shook her head. “That wasn’t a tantrum, Mr. Stark. We deal with meltdowns semi-regularly; gifted children often have unseen challenges and we’re meant to help them navigate an occasionally confusing world.”

Tony nodded. “Okay, what do you think caused this?”

“I think it had something to do with overstimulation,” Ms. Ginny said thoughtfully. “Some of the children were being a little loud and that occasionally sets others off. We could get Morgan some noise canceling headphones for playtime, in case it’s ever too loud, she can just put them on.”

“Overstimulation,” Tony mused. “You think it’s a sensory thing? My other kids have some issues with their senses getting dialed up.”

“Do _you_ , Mr. Stark?” the woman asked knowingly as she held out Morgan’s backpack.

“Could you please put it down? I don’t like being handed things,” he said automatically. “I haven’t really noticed anything myself.”

The teacher put the backpack down on one of the chairs in the office. “I see, well, I think it’s possible you and your wife might want to consider—ah, maybe having Morgan take an ADOS test.”

Tony blinked. “Autism?”

“It’s not uncommon in gifted children, Mr. Stark. It may help her if her educators have a general idea of what they can do to minimize her distress, although autism affects people in many, many different ways,” she smiled knowingly as he picked up the bag from the chair.

“But she makes eye-contact,” he said dumbly.

The woman in front of him burst out laughing at that. “I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry, it’s just that that is the most frequent response we get. And, you’re well—you’re Tony Stark so sometimes it’s hard to remember that you’re exactly like everyone else in some ways.”

Tony grinned at that, he couldn’t help it, it was pretty funny. “I’ll admit I’m a little lost.”

“Girls with autism frequently make eye-contact because that’s what they’ve observed as the thing they’re _supposed_ to do. However, Morgan’s meltdown is actually a little uncommon as most girls will extract themselves from a situation rather than have an outburst,” she explained patiently.

“She’s been at home where it’s quiet and she can play with whatever she wants for almost five years,” Tony was starting to understand. “There’s no protocol for what to do when you’re overstimulated at home because you can just make it stop.”

“Protocols, exactly,” the teacher smiled kindly. “Your older children are adopted?”

He nodded. “It’s a private—”

The woman shook her head. “No, no, I meant strictly in relation to Morgan; she’s been having more meltdowns recently?”

“She has, she’s up to three a week,” he sighed.

“She’s been subject to a lot of change, the disruption in her routine is probably making it hard for her to manage,” Ms. Ginny observed. “Regardless, we’ll be better prepared for her tomorrow. Please do try to have her come in, even for just a half-day. It will help her adjust.”

Tony nodded. “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome, Mr. Stark.”

_Autism_ , Tony thought as he back to the car. “FRIDAY download everything you think would be useful to know about autism and parenting.”

“On it, Boss.”

In the car, Gwen had opted to sit up front while Peter was buckled in next to Morgan who was still clinging to him.

“You kids okay?” he asked softly as he put the Audi in reverse.

“Yeah,” Peter answered equally quietly.

Morgan nodded.

Gwen smiled and leaned back in the shotgun, “Just tired, I think.”

The ride back to the tower was quiet, and thankfully quick. The kids made no effort to perk up or look excited as they got out of the car into his personal garage; usually they were all so excited about the cars. Instead, they piled into the elevator, Morgan fussed a little as he took her from Peter, but not too much; she was feeling the effects of having turned into the Iron Princess.

“Today’s been a day with a lot of big feelings, yeah?” he asked as they stepped into the penthouse.

“Yeah,” all three kids said softly as they climbed the steps to the landing with all of the bedrooms.

“How about we all take some naps then we can wake up, have a late lunch and play some games or work in the lab?” Tony offered.

“That sounds good,” Peter smiled, his eyes already lidded as he moved towards his door.

Gwen nodded. “Yeah, that sounds great, Dad.”

Morgan tapped him on his shoulder and asked softly as he headed to her bedroom. “Daddy, I’m sorry I got upset at school.”

“Oh Maguna, it’s okay Baby. You’re allowed to have feelings, and sometimes they’re big feelings. You don’t get in trouble for having big feelings,” Tony said softly as he placed her on her bed and found her some pajamas.

“Okay,” she looked a little relieved and whatever had been keeping her awake had dissipated. “I think I _want_ a nap.”

“That’s okay, the big kids are taking a nap too,” he smiled as he helped her into her Iron Man onesie.

She was out like a light before he had finished telling Friday initiate naptime protocol in all the kids’ rooms. The windows blacked out and a small arc-reactor nightlight turned on.

“Sleep well, Maguna,” he kissed his daughter’s head and exited the room.

On his way to the guest room, Tony checked on Gwen who was lying in bed with an Iron Man stuffy under her chin; they were going to need to put the kids’ names on their stuffies before one got lost. Tony checked her nightlight and kissed her on the forehead as well.

“Love you, Dad,” she said softly.

“Love you too, Pumpkin.”

Peter was sprawled out on his bed, Iron Man plush toy sitting in the corner of his bed. Tony reached for the comforter and tucked his son in, checked his nightlight as well; you never knew when those things could give out, and he didn’t want his kids alone in the dark.

He kissed his son on the temple and left.

_One more bed check_ , Tony smiled as he reached the guest room.

Harley was curled in fetal position in the middle of the queen sized guest bed, shopping bags were on the floor, neatly pushed against the side of the bed. The boy was older than the last time Tony had seen him, quickly doing the math; he was about nineteen. His dark hair looked a little damp—he’d probably washed it when he arrived—and was the only thing peaking out above the comforter.

He brushed a hand through the kid’s hair, gently so as to not wake him and stepped back towards the door.

“FRI,” he whispered, “naptime protocol in here too, dim baseboard lights since he doesn’t have a nightlight yet.”

“Yes, Boss,” came the soft reply in his headset.

 

Happy was waiting for him when he came back down and walked into the kitchen. “Everything okay, Boss?”

“Yeah, I gotta call Pepper,” he sighed and poured himself a glass of water. “How’d things go with Harley?”

“Fine,” Happy answered. “The kid is polite, like your other ones, he was homeless for a bit?”

“It’s a long story, I think,” Tony sighed. “He get settled okay, though?”

“Yeah. Took a bit of convincing about the shopping bags being for him, but he was pretty happy to have clean clothes. I told him he could sleep since you’d be home in a bit.”

“He eat something?”

“He said he ate on the plane, but I made him get a cheeseburger on the way here anyway.”

“I owe you a raise,” Tony told the man as he rested a hand on his shoulder. “A big one.”

Happy smiled. “Well you’ve got me helping you get four kids sorted, Boss. So I’m not gonna no.”

“Good, because you’re definitely getting a raise. I need to call Pep, take the rest of the day off, Hap. The kids are just gonna be home with me.”

“You look like you could use a nap too, Boss,” Happy said as he walked towards the elevator.

“Parents don’t get to sleep,” Tony countered, then said. “FRI, call Pep.”

It took a few rings, but his wife did pick up. “Tony, honey is everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine, it’s just the kids—”

“Oh my god!” Pepper sounded terrified. “The kids!”

“Babe, did you forget we had kids?” he grinned a little.

“No, no!” she said quickly. “I just—I was wrapped up in work and—never mind, I’ll never let it ring again. What’s wrong with the kids?”

Tony smiled. “Nothing’s wrong with the kids, they’re all home, though—”

“It’s only half past noon, why are they home?”

“Pep, _stop stressing_. They’re home because a bully was harassing Peter and Gwen and he punched Pete so Gwen decked him; everything is fine, they’re not in trouble. Principal deemed it self defense, but it can never happen again and they know that. I also told them they weren’t in trouble with us because they were looking after each other.”

“Okay, yeah,” Pepper released the breath she’d been holding. “Why is Morgan home? Please don’t tell me you figured ‘might as well’ because the other kids are home.”

“No, no. Actually, this one is tougher,” he told her gently. “She had an Iron Princess episode at school.”

“Oh no.”

“But, apparently they deal with this kind of thing a lot,” Tony added quickly. “Her teacher said to bring her back tomorrow, even if it’s just a half day. And—Um, she thinks we should get Morgan checked for—um—autism.”

“Oh,” he could hear the gears turning in his wife’s head. “Yeah, I’ll schedule an appointment for that.”

“You don’t sound surprised,” Tony said carefully.

Pepper laughed. “I had a feeling her meltdowns were sensory related, but I wasn’t too sure. She’s _your_ daughter, Tony. I knew from the day she was born that she was probably autistic.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Tony…” she was using her patient tone, the one she used when she was waiting for him to figure something out.

_She’s_ your _daughter._ “Does autism run in families?”

“In yours, it leaps and gallops, honey,” Pepper’s voice was loving.

“Oh.”

“People think you’re just quirky, that’s fine, you don’t need a diagnosis to make your life easier because you’re Tony Stark,” his wife continued. “But I’ve always suspected. It just never seemed to be such a huge issue for Morgan—and then…well, and then everything was happening and I didn’t know how or when to tell you I was concerned.”

Tony smiled. “Pep, you can always tell me anything that worries you about the kids, okay?”

“I know, Tony. We’ll schedule the appointment and see how it goes.”

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Tony said as he pulled sandwich ingredients out of the fridge. “I’m gonna make a truckload of sandwiches for lunch. They’re all taking naps because of _big feelings_.”

“I think Dad deserves a nap too, he had some pretty big feelings too, I’m sure,” Pepper replied. “I have to get back into my meeting, but I love you, okay? Make sure the kids know I love them, too.”

“I will, Pep. We’ll see you at six for supper?”

“Six thirty and I won’t be late, I promise.”

“Love you Pep.”

“I love you too, Tony. Take a nap.”

With the call ended, Tony focused on finishing the giant plate of sandwiches he was making; two loaves of bread later, he figured it would be enough to feed everyone—clearly labeling the food as for the kids and safe for all of them to eat; no weird textures in regular sandwiches.

Tony himself ate two and grabbed a glass of the orange juice that the kids loved so much before heading up to the master bedroom. He _was_ tired and he had four kids to care for. There was a nagging feeling in the back of his head that he’d forgotten to tell Pepper something important. Whatever it was, he was sure it could wait until she got home.

“Hey FRI, wake me up in—what time is it?” he asked suddenly.

“It’s 12:47, Boss.”

“Great, wake me up around 2:30 if I fall asleep. I’m just going to lay down and rest my eyes.”

“Sure, Boss,” _this_ time the amused tone wasn’t his imagination.

 

Morgan wasn’t sure what to do now that she was awake. She had gotten up, decided getting dressed was too much trouble, and had looked at a book for a while.

“I’m hungry, FWIDAY, where’s Daddy?”

“Boss is sleeping Miss Stark, but your brother and sister appear to be waking up,” FRIDAY replied helpfully.

“Thanks!” Petey would know what to do.

Out in the hall, Morgan bumped into Gwen who was just stepping out of her room. “Gigi!”

“Hey Morg, you hungry too?” her sister asked as she picked her up.

Morgan nodded. “Let’s get Petey first?”

“Sure thing,” Gigi agreed and walked them over to Petey’s room and opened the door.

“Petey, let’s eat!” Morgan said excitedly.

Her brother sat up with the best bedhead ever and smiled at her sleepily. “Hey Morg. FRI what time is it?”

“It is 2:07 Master Stark.”

“Thanks FRI. Dad really couldn’t come up with something less weird for her to call me?” he asked as he rolled out of bed.

“Nope!” Morgan grinned popping the p at the end of the word like Daddy did.

Gwen grinned. “Come on, let’s get food.”

The three of them stepped back out into the hallway in pajamas when another boy exited the guest room. He was in pajamas too, he had black hair and his face made it look like he was nervous. He was a big kid like Petey, but maybe even bigger because he was kind of taller than Petey.

Morgan frowned. “Who are you?”

“Um,” the boy said shakily. “I’m Harley. Tony said I could be here because…well stuff happened after I came back from the snap and—”

“You’re a friend of Tony’s?” Petey asked him.

When Harley nodded, Morgan felt Gwen relax.

“Okay,” her sister said, “well we’re heading down to the kitchen for food. You hungry?”

“Uh, yeah,” Harley said quietly.

“Cool, c’mon, man,” Petey gestured for him to follow them. “I’m Peter by the way, this is Gwen, and the little munchkin is Morgan.”

“Nice to meet you,” Harley smiled, he had a friendly smile and her siblings seemed to be okay, plus he was a friend of Daddy’s.

“Nice to meet you too,” Morgan said, then tapped her sister on the shoulder. “Food, Gigi.”

“Right, onwards!” her sister raised her arm and pretend charged down the stairs.

They all had lunch at the island in the kitchen. Petey had opened the fridge and found a _huge_ plate of sandwiches that Daddy had made so they had that with orange juice. Harley was actually really nice. Morgan didn’t understand everything he was saying, but Petey and Gigi helped explain it to her. Harley’s mommy and daddy were gone and his little sister too, he was all alone and he didn’t have a house or anything so Daddy had sent a car, and then a plane, and then Happy to go get him.

“I’m glad Daddy brought you here,” she told him as the twins—Mommy had said that Petey and Gigi were like twins—washed the dishes. “Being alone must have been scary.”

Harley nodded and smiled at her. “Tony is really nice, I’m glad I’m here too. It _was_ really scary, and cold.”

Morgan felt the need to give him a hug. “Can I hug you?”

“Sure.”

So she gave him a really good hug, like the kind she gave Petey when he was sad and the kind she gave Gigi when her sister cried. “It’s gonna be okay.”

“Think Dad’ll adopt him?” Gigi said as she and Petey finished putting the dishes away.

Petey grinned and looked at Harley. “Hasn’t he already adopted you?”

Harley shook his head. “I’m nineteen, I don’t actually need to be adopted. Um, I haven’t seen Tony yet either. He was out when I got here.”

“That makes sense,” Petey said as he led the way to the living room, he picked her up as he walked by. “He was out getting us from school probably.”

“Oh, why are you guys out of school early today?”

“Pete and I got into an—an altercation with a bully at school, so we needed to be picked up,” Gigi answered carefully. “FRI, can you turn on the switch, please? You like Mario Kart, Harley?”

“Of course, Ms. Stark,” FRIDAY said.

“Yeah that sounds fun! Sorry about the bully,” Harley was smiling when she gave him a controller. “Wait—Ms. Stark? You’re Tony’s daughter?”

“Adopted,” Gigi answered easily as she gave Morgan a controller and then Petey.

Petey nodded and motioned to Morgan. “She’s Miss Stark, I’m Master Stark for some ungodly reason, and Gigi’s Ms. Stark. Mom is Mrs. Stark and Dad is Boss.”

“Of course he is,” Harley snickered.

“Hey Morg, wanna pick your character,” Gigi asked as she started up the game with the player one remote.

Morgan grinned. “Yes!” she picked Boo because he was her favorite.

Everyone else picked their characters and it was actually really nice to sit and play with her brothers and sister—she knew Harley wasn’t _really_ her brother, but she thought that maybe Mommy and Daddy might _want_ him to be and that sounded okay. He was nice and after their third race he started making jokes and taking the Mario Karting _seriously_.

“Hey Morg,” Petey said as they started the Shell cup. “Dad said that you had a bad hot-minute at school. You okay now?”

She looked up at her brother for a second, it was hard to explain how she felt when everything got loud and hard to breathe in, but for Petey she would try. “Yeah, I’m okay now. Everything was…a lot.”

“I get that,” Gigi said from where she sat next to Harley. “Like it’s hard to breathe or concentrate because suddenly all you can hear is _every single_ sound all at the same time or the tag on your shirt is the worst thing in the whole world.”

Morgan nodded vigorously as she shot a red-shell at Toad and scooted into first place. “Exactly!”

“That sounds really tough,” Harley told her. “It’s okay to need a minute when stuff gets like that though, maybe you could tell your teacher it’s loud, you know? Before it gets so bad you can’t do anything.”

She hummed and scrunched her face up as Petey crashed into her with dry bones. “Hey! I’ll get you for that! Yeah, Ms. Ginny was really nice, she helped me get out of the classroom when it was loud, but then the lights were really bright too.”

“Ms. Ginny is your teacher? She sounds really nice,” Harley said.

Morgan took a moment to grin at him before turning back to _destroying_ Petey, but her brother was still ahead of her. “She’s great! She showed me water molecules and how sol—um—solu—solubility! Yeah, how that works today.”

“Blue-shell, my bad,” Gigi warned.

“Oh sh—shower curtains!” Petey cried out as it hit him.

Morgan corrected him automatically. “Shit.”

“I don’t think you’re supposed to say that word,” Harley laughed.

She shrugged, “But it’s the word. _Oh shower curtains!_ sounds really dumb.”

“Hey don’t knock it, I panicked.”

“You sure did,” Gigi laughed. “Did you just win _again_ , Morg?”

“Sure did.”

 

Tony was awoken by FRIDAY. “Boss, it’s 2:30PM, the children are all in the family room playing videogames.”

“Huh? Oh,” he sat up. “did they eat?”

“Yes, Boss.”

“Good, good, is Harley up yet?”

“He is with the other children playing Mario Kart, Boss.”

“Oh okay, guess I should go down, huh?”

“That would be considered a good course of action.”

So he followed the good course of action and went down to check on his now four kids; they were all cuddled together and by the sound of it playing Mario Kart against Morgan.

Peter had a near miss as Morgan crashed into his character, “Ba—barillium!”

“Balls? Bastard? What were you going for there, Petey?” Morgan commented.

“Oh sh— _sugar cookies_!” Gwen shouted as Boo passed her at the last second.

“Shit,” Morgan responded and kept going, making a jump and then gliding to just above Link (Tony had played way too much of this game with his kids).

“You’re not passing me, no chance!” Harley shouted, but then she did. “Fu—fudgecicle!”

“Fuck,” Morgan corrected again, automatically.

Tony couldn’t help it with that last one, he lost it. Watching his four year old correct her siblings’ attempts at not cursing in front of her whilst kicking their asses at Mario Kart was _too_ precious.

Morgan crossed the finish line earning her first place, but all the kids jumped at the sound of his laughter.

“Dad?” Peter asked him. “You’re up!”

Tony grinned. “That was priceless, also Maguna you _cannot_ swear like that in front of Mommy.”

His youngest daughter sighed in a very good imitation of him and said. “Daddy, I don’t swear at all. It’s just _oh sugar cookies!_ Sounds so dumb. I _know_ what you’re actually trying to say.”

Harley smiled up at him. “She’s great by the way.”

“I know, want to watch a movie or do you wanna keep getting your butts kicked by Morgan?” he asked settling down on the couch between Peter and Morgan, ever grateful they’d opted for a huge couch.

“Let’s watch Star Wars!” Peter said excitedly.

Gwen rolled her eyes. “Please no.”

“Can we watch Frozen?” Morgan asked hopefully.

Tony looked at Harley. “Any preferences, buddy? So far I’ve nixed both Star Wars and Frozen.”

The kid blinked at him then smirked. “What about Tangled, instead? I like the songs better.”

“Oh, Tangled is _good_ ,” Gwen agreed. “Petey, you mind?”

Peter shook his head. “Tangled has awesome music, and Rapunzel is super bada—badass.”

Morgan nodded enthusiastically. “I like when she hits people with the frying pan.”

“FRI,” Tony said defeatedly; they had all ganged up on him.

“Tangled, coming up, Boss.”

Tony didn’t mind it, the kids had all eaten, they were clearly content to sit and spend time together and the movie was actually pretty funny.

_They’re all in one piece, minimal cuts and bruises, and no one is crying or bleeding. I’m calling it a win,_ he thought as he settled Morgan into his lap and rested an arm around Peter.

 

Pepper had gotten off work early by some miracle. Somehow it was only 5:45 when she stepped out of the elevator and hung her coat up. There was shouting coming from the family room so there was a good chance that Tony had opted to let the kids play videogames instead of taking them down to the lab.

“How is she this good?”

“She’s a mad genius!”

“I DIED! AGAIN! Morg!”

“Sorry not sorry.”

_Smash Bros, then_ , Pepper thought as she walked through the living room to get to the kitchen.

“I’m home!”

“Welcome Home, Mrs. Stark,” FRIDAY said.

“Hi Mom!”

“Mom, hey!”

“Hey Pep!”

“Hi Pepper!”

“Mommy!”

She smiled and grabbed plates and cutlery, the dining room was just off the kitchen, which was just off the great room in an L shape, allowing full access to the kitchen while keeping the dining room out of sight.

_Four kids, two parents_ , she thought as she counted the spots at the dining room table. _Wait_.

Pepper put the plates down and walked back into the kitchen to make sure she had counted correctly. Sure enough, there were four children on the couch and her husband who had their four year old in his lap.

“Tony, honey,” she called, struggling to keep her voice even. “Could you come here please?”

“Sure thing, hon,” he extricated himself from the couch amid outcries that Morgan somehow had X-ray vision and could kill them while they weren’t looking. “The lasagna won’t be ready for a little bit, but we can work on the salad and set the table so the kids can keep playing? They’ve had a rough day, and they _did_ all help me get supper into the oven.”

“All four of them?” Pepper asked pointedly as her husband grabbed glasses from the cupboard and went to help her finish setting the table.

He stopped to kiss her. “Yeah, all four of them. Hey, I was thinking we should have a date night.”

“Tony we have four kids, now,” she said exasperatedly as she continued to put the plates out.

“Yeah I know,” Tony sighed and placed the napkins on the left hand side under the forks. “But we’re parents, not dead. Sure, it’s not _easy_ to have four kids, but we could get a babysitter and take a night at a hotel or something. Of course, it would be nice if all four kids would sleep through the night—”

“Anthony Stark,” Pepper said as she looked at the now set table.

Tony stopped looking stricken. “I’m sorry for whatever it is I’ve done to upset you, dear.”

“Tony, you haven’t upset me,” she walked over to him and rested a hand on his chest. “Honey, I left the house this morning and I kissed three kids on the forehead and wished _three_ kids a good day at school. We have _four_ children, now. I’ve only been pregnant once and I’m a mother of four now, so I would really like to know where we got the extra child from while I was _at work_.”

“Oh. _Oh._ That’s what I forgot!” her husband still looked a little stricken, but definitely no longer scared he had upset her. “I’ve had this thing in the back of my head since I lay down after I made lunch.”

_God, she’d really married_ such _a man._ “And it didn’t come to you when you introduced the other kids to him?”

“Um, well, I didn’t introduce them to him. They all woke up while I was still asleep and figured it out themselves,” he answered sheepishly.

“Tony, what did you even tell this child? And _where_ did you get him?” she was concerned now.

“Oh right, okay. You remember Harley Keener? He helped me by saving my life and then we went to his sister’s funeral a few years later?” Tony said quickly.

Pepper nodded.

“That’s him. His mom, um, she took her own life after the snap. He’s got no one else, Pep.”

“Okay, that would make him what eighteen, now?” she asked uncertainly.

Tony shook his head. “Nineteen, he’s been homeless since he got back from—wherever the soul stone put their souls.”

“Oh no,” Pepper felt her heart clench, that must have been a _very_ traumatic experience for Harley. “Okay, well he’s here now and we’ll just deal with everything. I’ll need his social security number, and probably to make a few doctors appointments and get stuff straightened out legally.”

“Yeah, I know. I haven’t exactly sorted anything with him yet, sorry Pep. All the other kids had school stuff going on, I haven’t even sat down with him alone, yet,” Tony ran a hand through his hair.

“We’ll get to that. He seems to be having fun with them, at least? The kids are good at helping each other out,” she leaned and rested her head on his shoulder.

“Yeah,” his arms came up to hold her. “I think they’ve accepted him as one of their own.”

“Let’s make the salad and you can tell me more about this date night we should have,” Pepper smiled. “We should also make a list of things that need to get done with the kids, but date night details first.”

 

Making the side dishes and salad was nice, spending time with her husband catching up about her day and his was better, sitting down as a family and hearing about the best parts of everyone’s day? The best.

“Alright, Tony, best part of your day, go,” she said to her husband as they all settled in for food.

“I got to work on Gwen’s suit and upgrade the web-shooters while I talked to Capsicle, that was fun. Bugged him about Romanoff,” her husband grinned.

Out of the corner of her eye she watched Harley nudge Gwen and mouth, _Like the Avengers?_

Gwen nodded while Peter, who was on Tony’s right, said, “The best part of my day was in chemistry class when Gwen and I got all the work done early so we got to play around with the chemicals before our teacher caught us.”

“Nothing dangerous I hope,” Pepper smiled at her son.

Peter shook his head as his mouth was full.

“Maguna?” Tony asked.

“Um, Ms. Ginny taught me about water—um, water sol—solubility!” she said proudly. “Like how salt disappears in water.”

“Wow that’s great, Baby! Did your whole class learn about it?” Pepper asked her youngest.

Morgan shook her head. “No, I asked her and she explained it. Our class did fractions and that was fun, a little bit easy though.”

Pepper eyes met her husband’s and the pride that shone there was evident as a huge smile spread across his face.

“We’re very proud of you, Maguna,” Tony grinned. “What about you Guinevere?”

Gwen smiled. “MJ and I made a paper airplane in English class and it flew all the way to the front of the class and landed on Felicity’s desk without Mrs. Graph noticing.”

Tony snorted. “Excellent use of your time, Pumpkin.”

Pepper tried her best not to smile. “Did you like English class, sweetie?”

“No,” her teenaged daughter shook her head. “But MJ is cool, so it was fun—you know, to have a friend.”

“I’m really glad you’re making friends, Gwen. I know how hard it is for you and I’m very proud of you,” Pepper tried to give the children as much verbal praise as possible, she knew that they remembered it and Gwen _was_ struggling with her social anxiety.

“Thanks Mom,” the smile she got from her was enough to make her forget about the English class all together; Gwen was smart and if she needed help, then they would help her.

“What about you, Harley?” Pepper asked their newest and eldest child. “What was your favorite part of your day?”

The boy seemed to freeze for a second, as if he hadn’t realized he would need to answer the question, then he said. “I got really close to beating Morgan in our last round of Smash? That was really fun.”

“That’s great,” she said brightly, giving him a genuine smile; she knew he was probably scared and worried with the lack of clarity about his situation. “Morgan is the best Smash player in our family, she’ll probably be going to competitions if she wants to.”

“Really, I can?” Morgan turned to look at her with wide eyes.

“When you’re a _little_ older, baby,” Pepper amended.

“A little older like when I’m five?” and the conversation derailed from there.

 

The kids cleaned all the dishes up and then were promptly sent to brush their teeth and get ready for bed. Storytime would happen at seven thirty sharp in the great room and everyone needed to be in bed by eight thirty, no exceptions. Lights out for the older kids by nine.

“Harley could you stay for a moment,” Pepper asked him quietly as Tony ushered the other kids upstairs.

“Um, sure thing, Pepper—Tony said it was okay if I called you Pepper,” he added quickly.

Tony followed him back into the kitchen. “Yes, and she’ll tell you its fine.”

“I’m telling you,” she grinned. “It’s fine if you call me Pepper.”

Harley relaxed visibly. “Okay.”

“So Tony tells me you’re nineteen, is that right?” she asked him gently.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “I turned nineteen in, um, August.”

“Relax, kid, Pep needs to know this stuff for the legal and PR circus that is our lives,” Tony reassured him.

Pepper smiled and put a hand on Harley’s hands as they all sat around the kitchen island. “It’s going to be just fine. Now, since you’re a legal adult, you don’t _need_ to be adopted. However, you _can_ be, if you want.”

“Y-you—just like that?” the surprise in the boy’s voice broke her heart.

“Definitely just like that,” she assured him. “You’re welcome here, Tony filled me in so you don’t have to go through re-hashing it all again, and you’re most definitely part of the family if you want to be.”

“Really?” Harley looked from her to Tony.

“Really, kid. I’m pretty sure the other kids actually forgot that you haven’t always been here,” Tony grinned.

“B-but like, what does that mean?”

“Long and short of it? You become one of our kids,” Tony answered. “You get the Stark name, if you want it, and all the perks that come with being part of the family. We’ll need to talk school, at some point too, but right now just breathe.”

“O-okay, that sounds pretty good,” there was a pause. “Is it okay if I d-don’t call you Mom and Dad like the other kids?”

“Very okay,” Pepper answered this one quickly. “It’s not going to hurt our feelings, we can be Pepper and Tony forever and that’s just fine with us. We’ll still be here and we’ll still love you.”

“Y-you don’t really know me, though.”

“That definitely doesn’t mean that I can’t love you, sweetie,” Pepper smiled. “We’ll get the legal stuff sorted out, you don’t have to worry about that.”

Harley blushed. “Okay.”

“See, kid? I told you it would be fine. You can go up and get ready for storytime now. We’ll figure out your room decor tomorrow,” Tony grinned and patted him on the shoulder.

“Oh! One more thing, and this is non-negotiable,” Pepper cut in. “You’re going to need to do a few sessions of therapy with our family therapist, Dr. Phern.”

“I—I don’t think I need—” Harley stuttered and looked at Tony, but Tony _knew_ she was right and shook his head.

“Don’t bother,” Peter said as he walked back into the kitchen with a guilty expression. “I needed water. But, Harley, man, don’t bother trying to negotiate. Mom’s super firm about the therapy thing. We all go. Well except Morgan.”

“That’s about to change,” Tony told him as he poured their son—now younger son—a glass of water and handed it to him. “That’ll be everyone in the family by the end of the week.”

Harley nodded. “No way out, then?”

Peter shook his head. “Not one. You coming up? You’re gonna want to hurry, you’ve only got like five minutes before storytime.”

“Okay, yes, I’ll do therapy,” the older boy told Pepper in a rush. “Can I go?”

“Yes you can go now, sweetie,” she smiled.

“They all really love storytime,” Tony observed as the boys disappeared up the stairs.

“Don’t you?”

“Oh definitely.”

Five minutes later, all four kids were down and cuddled into the couch with Pepper and Tony as she pulled the books forward. Storytime had a familiar format that helped the kids get settled; first Tony would read a short book—tonight’s was Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss—then Pepper would read from a novel until it was time to sleep. Tonight they were starting a new novel, she was excited to read A Wrinkle in Time to them; it had been one of her favorites as a little girl. It was also one of the very first mentions of the tesseract, which she was sure her resident superheroes would enjoy.

“It was a dark and stormy night…”

 

An hour later, Tony was carrying Morgan up the stairs as a very sleepy Gwen and Peter followed behind him.

“That was really nice, Pepper,” Harley said to her as they climbed the stairs. “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome,” she said leaning over and kissing him on the forehead. “C’mon I’ll tuck you in before I go tuck the others in.”

“T-tuck me in?” he sounded surprised.

She nodded, “We tuck all the kids in.”

Harley didn’t say anything else as he climbed into bed and let her straighten the blankets and kiss him on the forehead again.

“Hold on, I’ve got the nightlight,” Tony said as he entered into the room and set an arc-reactor up near the bed.

“Now you’re just making this stuff up,” Harley said frowning.

Pepper shook her head, but Tony responded. “No kid of mine is waking up all alone in the dark. Ever.”

Pepper marveled at how outspoken about it Tony was, there had been a time when such a declaration would have been impossible, but now he was a father and it changed _everything_.

“Oh,” Harley nodded and lay back down.

“Good night, Kiddo,” Tony leaned over and ruffled his hair and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

“You get Gwen and I’ll get Morgan?”

“Yeah, I already tucked her in so she’s good for Daddy kisses,” her husband smiled and headed off to their eldest daughter’s room.

It took them another few minutes for all the kids to have been tucked in by both Mom _and_ Dad, but it was done and they could finally get ready for bed.

“FRI,” Tony called he wrapped his arms around her.

Pepper smiled and nestled closer to her husband. “Bedtime Protocol.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I hope you liked it! I certainly loved writing it.  
> Pepper is a TIRED MOM and she's wondering if Tony is trying to get a baseball team's worth of kids.  
> Yes there will be chapters with the avengers.
> 
> And comments are my life's blood and they help me write, so if you want more of...whatever this is...comment please :)


	11. College and Conundrums

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gwen deals with some emotional baggage, Uncle Rhody makes an appearance and there is a press-conference. It's all mostly a good time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mentions of bodydysmorphia and Tony being a good dad.

**Chapter Eleven: College and Conundrums**

“So I’ll make Morgan’s psychiatrist appointment, you’ll get the younger kids off to school, get Harley to his appointment with Dr. Phern at eleven, and check in with the compound?” Pepper asked as she grabbed a pair of heels from the closet.

Tony nodded and stepped around her so he could grab a tie, “Yeah, and you’ll confirm everything about Midtown’s security? I’ll probably need to pick Maguna up from school right after Harley’s appointment with the good doctor.”

His wife nodded and gestured to her red heels. “Are these too much?”

“No, you look beautiful,” he shook his head and pressed a kiss to her temple. “I feel like we’re forgetting something.”

“The twins start their after school stuff today,” Pepper reminded him. “Happy can take them so you don’t have to do all the driving, then he’ll double back, pick me up, then both of us can get the twins and be back in time for supper.”

“Assuming the twins don’t argue and want to take the subway,” he shuddered at the thought.

“I’ll talk to them, they can’t be taking public transit anymore, they _know_ that.”

Tony smiled. “Think we thought of everything?”

“No,” Pepper sighed, “but we’ll just have to stay in touch because—”

“Boss, it’s 7:15AM.”

“Right, okay,” he nodded and stepped into the hallway. “Kids, does everyone have shoes, backpacks, sweaters, and their heads?”

A chorus of “Yes!” came from near the elevator.

“Let’s try to make it through full days today, okay?” Pepper said encouragingly as she descended the stairs and kissed each of the kids.

“Okay,” Morgan said softly.

“You’re gonna do great, Morg,” Peter told the little girl in his arms. “And it’s okay if you can’t because we’re all still really proud of you.”

Gwen nodded. “And you’re not the only one who’s trying to make it through a full day today, Petey and I have to as well. Then we can play Smash when we get home!”

That got their younger sister to perk up a little. “With Harley?”

Harley who had been standing next to them smiled. “Definitely, kiddo.”

“Car shopping!” Tony exclaimed, having just remembered. “We need a car that can fit all the kids without breaking any safety regulations.”

Pepper snorted. “So a mini-van.”

“We’re not getting a minivan. Everyone in the car, Harls you’re gonna be okay while I drop them off?”

Harley nodded. “I’m good, gonna watch some cartoons.”

“Alright, FRI keep an eye on things here,” he called as he ushered the rest of the family into the elevator.

Dropping the kids off wasn’t as nerve-wrecking as yesterday, although Morgan was a little clingier; she did seem excited to spend time with Ms. Ginny again and was happy to be handed some pink noise canceling headphones in case things got loud. They had dropped the twins off first and that had been easy enough: _don’t forget to use the credit card if you need it and just call if you need me to come get you._

“You alright, Boss?” Happy asked him as they pulled into Tony’s personal garage.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s just the kid—”

His bodyguard snorted. “Which one?”

Tony rolled his eyes, _that_ was becoming a theme.

Harley was dressed and sitting on the couch with a science magazine when Tony walked into the penthouse. His eldest son—that was a crazy thought, although he was getting used to it fairly quickly—had picked out a red button down and dark jeans, he looked like the picture of composed if it weren’t for the fact that he was pointedly staring unseeingly at the wall.

“Hey kiddo, you okay?” _Be a parent, you can do this Stark._

Harley looked up at him wide eyed. “Yeah, just—not…I’m grateful and everything, it’s just—”

Tony let himself drop onto the couch beside the teenager. “It’s a lot, I know. Pep and I have done this two times already, we know the drill, but you don’t and that’s okay.”

“I’m just going from poor Tennessee farm boy with a—without any living siblings to a—what am I?” the kid gestured to the room around them.

The penthouse’s great room wasn’t flashily decorated, actually Pepper had talked about putting up a family portrait and some art from their collections, but Tony could imagine that it was a lot more than three out of his four kids were used to.

Still, he smiled. “Genius teenaged heir to a multibillion dollar business empire with three younger siblings?”

Harley gaped at him.

“What?” Tony shrugged. “It’s technically true. But, like I said, Pepper and I have done this gong show before. We know it’s not easy for you, but we’re here and we’re going to _stay_ here. Speaking of here, we need to pick out the décor for your room, wanna do that now?”

“I…I guess? Everything’s already pretty okay,” the teenager said slowly.

“No it’s really not,” Tony shook his head. “It looks nothing like a kid’s room at all.”

“Well, I’m not a kid,” Harley reasoned, but there was a bit of a smile on his lips. “It couldn’t hurt to put up some cool posters though.”

“You want more floor space? We could change the bed. Pete’s got a bunkbed for sleepovers, you want something like that?”

Harley shook his head. “No, I’m good, but I—um—I like space? Maybe some galaxy themed stuff?”

It took a bit of pushing and prodding, but Tony was thankful that Harley was a little more open about the things he liked than Peter was. Shopping for Peter had been a disaster and a half because he refused to actually admit he _liked_ anything, Pepper had been a saviour having figured out that the kid liked Star Wars. Harley wasn’t as into pop-culture, but he did grin when Tony suggested an Avengers group shot poster and that was enough for him to order it.

“Okay that’s your room done, we’ve got—another hour before the good doctor arrives,” Tony said looking at his watch.

Harley sighed. “Do I really need therapy?”

“Kid, you were homeless after coming back from the dead and finding out that your mother took her own life. Yeah, you need therapy,” he said seriously. “We should also talk about college, I was thinking MIT; you could start in the winter semester, brush up on your knowledge for the next couple of months before getting back to it.”

A myriad of expressions passed over the kid’s face before he settled on worried. “Y-you’re sending me away?”

_Therapy, he definitely needs that_. “Harley, no, kiddo, I’m not sending you away. I want to talk to you about going to college a few hours away from home where you can come back every weekend,” he said gently.

“College,” Harley breathed quietly. “MIT, like you?”

“Sure,” Tony shrugged and grinned a little. “Or, like _you_. You’re your own person, buddy. MIT’s just closer so if you wanna be home on the weekends you can. We’re loaded, remember?”

That brought a smile to the kid’s face. “What if—”

“What if you don’t like it?” Tony asked, _that_ was something he was prepared for. “Then you don’t like it and we’ll work from there. But, you can’t just stop, okay? Dying sucks, being in a new complicated world sucks, breaking down is fine, but no unpacking and living there. Got it?”

Harley nodded sagely. “So, winter semester at MIT? I haven’t even applied.”

“Your dad is Tony Stark, buddy,” he grinned. “I’ll get you in. One semester, if you don’t like it, then we’ll find something else. Okay?”

“Got it,” the boy agreed.

“Alright, Dr. Phern should be here in a bit, want a snack before we head down to the therapy suit?”

“You have a therapy suit?”

“No, it’s just another floor with an office, I don’t like people in my personal living space,” Tony smiled.

Harley got a snack and then they met with Dr. Phern; she was a nice woman who was patient and never judged anything Tony said, which made her the perfect candidate for a therapist for his kids. Although, they were going to need a pediatric psychologist for Morgan.

His phone vibrated with a text from Pepper: **_Everything okay?_**

**Yep, Harley’s in with the doc. No news from Maguna.**

**_Okay, Peter and Gwen are fine, I texted to check on them._ **

**Great, Harls’ room stuff is ordered and we got through the college talk okay.**

**_Verdict?_ **

**One semester at MIT, we’ll see how it goes.**

**_Next semester?_ **

**Yeah, I gotta call them.**

**_Don’t forget the compound stuff._ **

**Right, I’ll get on that.**

The rest of the day went off without a hitch. A phone call from Steve, one to Clint to see how the kids were doing—and to ask how the hell he managed to be a dad without drowning—one to the contractors on the compound to check up on everything.

He got a phone call from Morgan around one in the afternoon, as he was sitting down to lunch with Harley.

“Hi Daddy,” she sounded happy.

“Hey Maguna, how’s my baby girl? Do you need me to pick you up?”

“No, Daddy. I’m okay, I just missed you,” his daughter confessed. “I just wanted to talk to you for a little while before we go to the gym.”

“That’s alright, you’re allowed to miss me. I miss you too. You’re going to the gym, huh?”

“Yeah! We’re going to play games,” Morgan chattered on happily about all the things they were supposed to be doing in the gym.

After a few minutes, she told him that she had to go, but that Ms. Ginny wanted to talk to him. “Hello, Mr. Stark?”

“Hi, how are you?”

“I’m doing well, Morgan just missed you so I thought I’d let her give you a call. She’s doing very well today.”

“Thanks for letting her call me,” he replied earnestly.

“It’s my pleasure. She’s a wonderful little girl. We have to go now, but rest assured that she’s doing great today.”

“Thank you, just give me a call if I need to come get her.”

“Will do. Have a nice day, Mr. Stark.”

“You too, good bye.”

It was nice to have Harley around, Tony thought he might actually have lost it without any of the kids around. His entire life revolved around making sure his children were safe. Harley was bright and after his appointment with Dr. Phern, he seemed eager to get started on some college prep. He also tinkered in the lab, working on creating some sort of miniature engine.

“Boss, it’s time to pick up Miss Stark from school,” FRIDAY said.

“Oh right, we need to go car shopping too,” he looked up from where he was playing around with a suit design. “Harls, you ready to go, bud?”

His son looked up from his work station. “Um yeah, we’re car shopping?”

Tony grinned. “Yeah, you and Morgan get to help me pick out our _definitely-not-a-minivan_.”

Getting Morgan to leave school was a new experience, she’d grown very attached to her teacher and enjoyed the predictability of her school day a lot more today. In short, she _did not_ want to leave.

“C’mon, baby,” Tony tried. “I’m going to buy you a car.”

Ms. Ginny choked at that.

Harley snorted and reassured the woman. “We’re buying a new car anyway.”

“We’re buying a car?” Morgan looked at him uncertainly. “Why?”

“Because you have two brothers and a sister so that’s too many to fit in the Audi,” Tony explained. “We need a big car for everyone to fit.”

His daughter nodded in understanding. “Okay, let’s go.”

It took a while to get Harley and Morgan to agree on an SUV, at first both of them were convinced that getting an actual minivan was ideal.

“We are _not_ getting a minivan,” Tony said for the fifth time and shot a long-suffering look at the dealer. “Don’t you have anything more _luxury_ for a family of six plus a personal driver?”

Pepper was no help, of course, she simply reminded him that it was _his_ idea to have four children and that she was _in a meeting_ , _Tony_.

In the end, they settled on an eight seater SUV with lots of cup-holders and USB ports for devices. Tony bought a second one and let Pepper know that someone was going to have to deliver it to the airfield because they were going to need it when they headed to the Lake House.

“Daddy,” Morgan said after they got back to the Tower. “I’m tired.”

“Yes, Baby, I know. You had a big day at school,” he answered as he picked her up. “Wanna put the frozen meal in the oven for me, Harls?”

“Uh, sure thing.”

“It’s on the top shelf in the freezer, bud.”

He had Morgan settled in his lap with Frozen on the TV for a few minutes before Harley came to sit next to them. The kid still looked unsure about—well, about everything, but he was excited about the college prep books Tony got him.

“Harley,” Morgan said softly.

“Yeah Morg?” his son looked up at her from his textbook.

“You’re my brother now?” Morgan was looking at Harley with large curious eyes.

Tony wasn’t sure if he should say something, but before he could decide Harley grinned. “Sure am, baby girl. Is that okay?”

Morgan grinned back. “Very okay! What’re you doing?”

And so, instead of worrying that his kids wouldn’t all mesh together, Tony spent the rest of the afternoon listening to his nineteen-year-old teach his four-year-old college level physics. For fun. He didn’t see the time fly by even as FRI informed him that supper was ready.

“You wanna help set the table, bubba?” Morgan asked Harley expectantly.

“Sounds good, d’you wanna do the napkins while I do the plates?” Tony saw something shift in Harley’s eyes as Morgan referred to him as bubba—a term she’d tried with Peter before determining that it didn’t fit—but the boy’s voice was strong and now wasn’t the time.

They were halfway through setting the table when FRI said, “Welcome Home Mrs. Stark, Ms. Stark, Master Stark.”

“Hi FRI,” Pete said before continuing what seemed to be an elaborate story. “And then Mr. Hawkins showed me how to do this really cool flip off of the beam and it was great!”

“That’s wonderful, sweetie,” Pepper replied as Tony heard her heels approaching the dining room. “So you like the gym?”

“I love it, Mom!” Peter was definitely excited.

“Gwen, you didn’t say how dance class was,” Pepper said as they rounded the corner.

Gwen, for all that Tony had no idea how teenagers worked, didn’t seem particularly thrilled as she said, “It was nice.”

Pepper pursed her lips, but Morgan was already shouting, “Mommy! Hi!”

Tony smiled as Peter, ever the intuitive sibling grabbed the plates from his hands with a quick, “Hi Dad.”

“Guinevere, why don’t you come help me in the kitchen, Pumpkin?” he offered as he headed back to grab the glasses.

“Okay,” Gwen nodded, her face carefully expressionless.

Tony made subtle eye-contact with Pepper who nodded; she would take over supper whilst he dealt with whatever was bothering their daughter.

“C’mon, let’s go sit in the living room, Pumpkin.”

“I thought we were doing something in the kitchen,” Gwen protested weakly, but she didn’t actively make an effort to remain near the others.

Tony wasn’t sure what to do once they were standing in the great room, on instinct, he simply said, “Hello Pumpkin.”

Thankfully, that was all it took for Gwen to rush into his arms and mumble. “Hi Daddy. I missed you today.”

“I missed you too,” he replied honestly as he rested his head atop of hers. “What’s going on with my little girl?”

“I’m not little,” she said weakly, her voice muffled in his shirt.

He chuckled, he couldn’t help it; all his kids seemed to think they were big. “Gwen, sweetheart, you’re always going to be my little girl.”

“Promise?” that was the voice of a scared child, scared children he knew how to help.

He held her tighter. “Promise, cross my heart.”

“Okay.”

“You wanna tell me what’s going on? You were really excited about your dance class this morning.”

Gwen released a heavy sigh. “I don’t actually want to talk about it, right now, is that okay?”

“ _Will_ you talk to me or your Mom about it?”

A slow nod followed. “Just not right now, okay?”

“Sweetie, Mom and I need to know if you’re hurt—”

“I’m okay, Dad, I promise,” she pulled back to look him in the eye. “I’m okay, I’m just going through a…a thing.”

He couldn’t exactly fault her for needing a minute, god knew he had needed many in his life. “Alright, Pumpkin, I trust you.”

“Let’s go eat, okay?”

Whatever Gwen was going through; it was affecting her appetite. In spite of her eagerness to get back to supper, the girl didn’t touch very much of her supper. Pepper kept making eye-contact with him, but Tony couldn’t give her an answer for their daughter’s strange behaviour. Instead, he braced himself for what was probably going to be a rough night. None of the children were sleeping through the night consistently, although Peter hadn’t woken up last night he probably would tonight, but with any luck Morgan would sleep through—Harley hadn’t had any nightmares yet, but Tony wasn’t holding his breath; weeks on the street would definitely give him a few things to lose sleep over.

Still, all the children were safely tucked in at bedtime, and he and Pepper finally, _finally_ had time to talk.

“What’s going on with Gwen?” were the first words out of his wife’s mouth as their door closed.

Tony smiled. “Hi honey, I missed you today too.”

All the tension seemed to melt out of Pepper as she leaned against him. “Hi Tony, I love you. Sorry, I’m just worried.”

“I know, hon, these kids do _not_ come with an instruction manual.”

“You never read the instructions, Tony,” she reminded him softly.

“That’s because they’re dumb,” he reasoned. “Something’s wrong with our girl, but she’s not ready to talk about it.”

Pepper hummed. “Okay, how was Morgan after school?”

“Tired, but she didn’t have any meltdowns today, which is some sort of miracle, I think. I _did_ let her watch Frozen, though, I think that helped.”

“Peter was alright today, he said Flash wasn’t at school due to suspension, but I think he’s having a hard time with his history class.”

“Should I check in with him about it?”

“Maybe we should figure out if we need to check their homework,” Pepper muttered. “I know they’re in high school, but they’ve got a lot going on.”

Tony nodded. “I’ll make sure he has his history stuff tomorrow so we can take a look at it together.”

“How was Harley today?”

“Good, he and Morgan had a moment I think.”

“That’s good, how is he feeling about the new room?”

“He was pretty excited about some of the posters and the new desk set. I’m leaving the clothes shopping to you, though,” Tony smirked. “I am _not_ having that conversation with him, I got him to his therapy appointment, bought a new car, and got him to agree to go to college, Pep.”

She rolled her eyes. “Technically _you_ needed a new car, his therapy appointment was _in this building_ and we both know that he probably wanted to go to college, Tony.”

“I’m still calling it a win.”

He and Pepper got another hour to themselves, which was mostly spent catching up on her day, bickering about whether he needed to be at SI meetings—he did, of course—and how they were going to juggle kids with work and Avengers and after school. They’d finally climbed into bed and were muttering about whether or not they needed a Nanny when Friday alerted them.

“Boss, Master Stark appears to be in distress.”

“I got it,” Tony said, his head had barely touched his pillow, but Pepper had actual work the next day and _he_ could afford to take a nap.

“Call me if he needs me too,” she said apprehensively.

“I will.”

Peter was already awake in the top bunk when he entered the room. His son was struggling to regulate his breathing and clutching his stuffed Iron Man close to his chest. Tony was struck by how _young_ his fifteen-year-old looked. Peter’s curls were sticking up in odd directions and his eyes shone with unshed tears as Tony made his way up the ladder to check on him.

“D-Dad?”

“Right here, kiddo. How’s my boy doing?”

Pete rested his head against Tony’s shoulder. “Why’d she leave me, Dad?”

“Oh buddy, May didn’t leave you on purpose, kiddo. She loved you more than anything in the whole world, you were her kid. She wouldn’t willingly leave you, ever.”

“I miss her,” the brokenness in his son’s voice hurt Tony like nothing else ever had.

He wrapped his arms around Pete and murmured, “I miss her too kiddo, it’s okay to miss people we love, it’s okay to cry for them.”

“Did you cry w-when your parents…” the vulnerability in the question hit Tony like a bucket of ice water; Pete needed to know that someone he loved _understood_ what he felt.

“Yeah kiddo, I did. I cried a lot for my mom in those early days,” he didn’t think he’d ever admitted that to anyone. “I would wake up wanting to call her from college, only to realize I couldn’t. It hurt a lot.”

“I’m sorry, Dad,” Peter’s arms tightened around him.

_This kid; he was struggling to consolidate the loss of his last living relative and he was comforting_ Tony _for the loss of his parents._ “I’m okay now, Kiddo. It was a long time ago and even though I still miss my mom, I have a lot of people who love me and that makes it easier.”

“It’ll stop hurting?”

He wished it were that simple, but he knew that there were still times when he looked around his house or at his family and missed his mother tremendously. “It’ll get easier to live with, buddy.”

“Okay. I love you Dad.”

“I love you too, kiddo. With all my heart.”

It took another couple of minutes for Peter to fall back to sleep, but he did. Tony didn’t know when he became qualified to be a parent, but he supposed it had something to do with Peter being his kid before—before everything—and Morgan being born. Nightmares, bedtimes, comforting; that all just became part of his job description.

“Boss,” FRIDAY said quietly as he closed Peter’s bedroom door. “Harley is restless.”

“Gotcha,” he said softly as he wandered down the hall to check on his eldest.

Harley was sitting up in bed, his dark hair a rumpled mess and his eyes a little glassy. The room was set to be decorated tomorrow, they’d ordered bookshelves and books for him as well; he’d been pretty excited about those. Right now, though, his son looked overwhelmed.

“Hey Harls, how’re you holding up buddy?” Tony asked softly as he walked over to the bed.

Harley looked at him uncertainly. “I—You’re really used to this, huh?”

Tony nodded. “Yeah, I am. What’s got you up, bud?”

“I’m just overwhelmed, I think?” the boy said uncertainly. “I—I don’t know how to—I’m not worth—”

“Stop right there,” he interrupted sternly. “You are definitely worth every effort in the whole damn universe, Harley. Every. Single. One.”

“Okay…it’s just a lot, I guess. But, I’m okay. I think I just need to get used to it,” Harley admitted softly.

“Want me to—”

Pepper interrupted him by tapping on the bedroom door. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” he smiled. “I was just gonna sit with Harls until he fell asleep.”

“Let me do that,” his wife said and stepped forward. “If that’s alright, sweetie?”

Harley nodded. “Y-yeah that’s okay.”

Pepper smiled and replaced Tony at the bedside, but she looked up at him and said quickly. “Gwen wants her dad tonight.”

Tony felt his lips settle into a grim line; on really bad nights, Gwen didn’t respond well to Pepper trying to comfort her. They still weren’t entirely sure why, but they were trying to help their girl through it all.

“Guinevere?” he said softly as he entered her bedroom.

A soft sob was his only answer.

“Oh Pumpkin,” Tony felt his heart break as he reached for his daughter, she was curled under a mountain of black and pink blankets and pillows. “Talk me, sweetheart.”

“N-no, I’m okay,” she cried.

Tony sighed. “Pumpkin, this definitely doesn’t look like okay to me.”

He didn’t get an answer out of his daughter, but she did crawl out from under the blankets and hug him so he counted that as a win. It took a good half hour to get her back to sleep and tuck her in again, but at the end of it Tony was certain that they needed to figure out what was wrong with their little girl.

Morgan was the only one who slept through the night.

The next day, thankfully, went by easily enough. Tony and Harley decorated his room, there were phone calls to MIT, the compound was still a week away from completion, but it was getting there, and the Spider-Kids were still pushing for a patrol schedule.

“We could go out after dinner,” Pete was saying that night over spaghetti.

Pepper raised an eyebrow at Tony. “I think that’s a little late, sweetie.”

Tony sighed, he and Pepper had already discussed this over text throughout the day. “Four nights a week, including Friday, you get _one_ night to go out after supper. And, homework needs to get done or else we’re cutting it down. Lights out goes to 9:30, but homework _should_ be done by then.”

“Why do we have to go to bed so _early_ ,” Gwen complained.

“Because no one in this family sleeps reasonable amounts of time,” Pepper replied sternly, but she relented a little. “Including me.”

“We can renegotiate bedtimes when everyone starts sleeping consistently,” Tony compromised.

“Mine too?” Morgan asked curiously.

Peter snorted. “I don’t think so, Morg. You’re _way_ too much like Dad.”

It was true, Morgan had had a tendency to wake up several times a night and wander around the house or read books when they had been at the Lake House. Her early bedtime was precautionary because someone had to keep tucking her in again. It hadn’t been a problem in New York, yet. Yet being the operative word.

“You need your sleep, Baby,” Pepper added. “You’re a growing little girl.”

His youngest gave a signature Stark sigh, but didn’t complain.

“Do I get a different bedtime?” Harley asked teasingly.

“Nope, you’re up at six thirty just like everyone else in this house,” Tony put an end to that line of questioning quickly. “We can renegotiate when _everyone_ is sleeping better.”

There were collective groans from the children, but the pride in Pepper’s eyes helped Tony stand firm on that decision. It was too early in their endeavor with three traumatized kids and a toddler to have eleven o’clock curfews and super-children running about the city.

Thursday was a disaster.

Morgan had a meltdown before breakfast and there was just no way she was going to school. Getting her to eat anything or get dressed wasn’t an option, apparently her shoes were the devil now and screaming was the only way to exorcise them.

Pepper, thankfully, had the presence of mind to get all three of the other children ready and instructed Harley that he was spending the day at the office with her. Happy would be driving everyone and Tony could be free to take care of their youngest.

The twins didn’t get into any fights with other children, but they got home and weren’t on speaking terms. Apparently a chemistry experiment gone wrong had gotten them both in trouble and they were passing blame.

Happy looked like he was going to explode when he dropped the children off at the penthouse.

“ _You_ shouldn’t have added the sodium compound so early,” Gwen was outright glaring at her brother.

Pete rolled his eyes. “ _Me?_ You’re the one who decided that putting the hotplate on _high_ to make things _go faster_ was a good idea!”

“It was taking too long; the bell was going to ring before we finished it!”

“Well we didn’t finish it, did we?”

“Enough,” Tony said softly. “Is it possible everyone is at fault here?”

“No.”

“Not a chance.”

Well this was getting nowhere fast. “Okay Morgan is down for a nap so you two head up to your rooms and work on some homework. Under no circumstances are you to wake your sister.”

Tony was feeling a migraine coming on.

By the time Pepper and Harley walked in, Tony was sure nothing could get worse; he’d burned dinner so they were definitely having Chinese takeaway tonight, Morgan had woken up extremely clingy and refused to be put down, which in itself wasn’t bad, but it meant that Tony didn’t have as much freedom of movement, the twins still weren’t speaking to each other and now not even to him.

Harley bolted right past him and up the stairs without a word as soon as the elevator door opened.

Pepper looked miserable, but she was on the phone with what appeared to be lawyers. “Yes, if you could get those NDAs signed that would be great. Thanks.”

“Pep,” Tony reached for her with his left arm, his right one supporting Morgan.

“I need to talk to you,” she sighed and looked at Morgan. “Hello Baby, how’re you feeling?”

“Quiet,” Morgan replied. “I love you Mommy.”

“I love you too, Baby. Do you think you might be able to spend some time with one of your brothers or your sister?” Pepper asked as she kissed their daughter.

“Petey?” Morgan asked uncertainly.

Tony nodded. “Sounds like a plan, Maguna. FRI can you get Pete down here? Tell him Morgan wants him.”

Peter’s eyes were red rimmed, but he was downstairs in an instant to collect his sister. “Hey Morg, let’s go play Legos in my room.”

Pepper gave him a quick hug and Tony dropped a kiss on his son’s head as he handed over their youngest. “We’ll call you guys down for dinner soon.”

As soon as Peter’s door closed, Tony took stock of his wife; she looked more frazzled than he’d ever seen her, and that was including the time he had been kidnapped in Afghanistan for three months _and_ the time the Stark Expo blew up _and_ the time she’d killed Aldrich Killian with a pipe whilst wearing a sports bra and leggings.

“Pep, what happened?” he asked as he wrapped his arms around her.

Tony felt her just let go in his embrace as she said, “Harley called me Mom in a board meeting.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah, it’s a PR disaster. I’ve got the team working on all the NDAs, but we’ll need to make an announcement soon. Probably in a week or two.”

“Think we can wait that long?”

“We’re going to have to, we need to prep the kids,” Pepper sighed. “He’s not talking to me, Tony. He didn’t say a word afterwards.”

“We can go talk to him together,” he smiled. “Remember the first time Peter called me Dad? He couldn’t look me in the eye for a full week afterwards. It happens, these kids—they need us to know what we’re doing.”

Pepper looked at him with the most desperate eyes. “Tony, I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m not qualified for this.”

“Pepper,” Tony sighed. “How many times do I have to tell you that you’re the most qualified person I have ever met? And, for the record, I have no idea what I’m doing either and I’m a _genius_ or some shit.”

That got him a laugh. “Okay, let’s go talk to our son.”

“The twins are fighting,” he added as they climbed the stairs.

“Really?” the exasperation in her voice was akin to her usual exasperation though so he counted that as a win.

“They both got in trouble for blowing up some of the chemistry lab.”

“They’re grounded. Very grounded.”

“I’d settle for them not being at each others’ throats,” Tony admitted.

His wife raised an eyebrow. “They’re grounded for blowing up public property, Tony.”

Well, he couldn’t argue with that.

Harley was hiding under his blankets when they entered his bedroom. “Please no.”

“Hey buddy,” Tony said quietly as he walked over to the pile of blankets—his son _was_ somewhere in there.

“I’m sorry,” he sounded so _young_.

Tony glanced back at Pepper; she looked so lost, but her eyes held a determination to make everything better and he knew she would do whatever she needed to in order to help their son.

“Kiddo, what’re you sorry for exactly?” Tony tried.

There was a pause. “I—I called Pepper Mom.”

“And you’re sorry about it because?”

Harley’s face made a brief appearance as he glared at Tony. “She’s not my mom. She doesn’t have to be my mom.”

“Huh,” Tony tried to hide his grin. “Has it ever occurred to you that Pepper might _want_ to be your mom if you let her?”

“Harley, sweetheart,” Pepper had moved around to the other side of the bed. “Just because you called me Mom doesn’t mean you’re replacing _your_ mother. Everyone needs parents, Harley, and it’s okay to have many sets of them. Sometimes they get taken away from us, but that doesn’t mean we don’t need parents or that anyone we accept as a parent replaces a previous person.”

The boy met Pepper’s eyes and Tony could see the understanding shining there.

“What are we going to do about—um, the other people?” Harley asked eventually.

“We’ve got it covered, kiddo, don’t worry,” Tony assured him. “We can talk about it over supper since we need your siblings’ input about how we’re going to do this.”

“Speaking of supper?” Pepper raised an eyebrow.

Tony sighed. “We’re having Chinese.”

The twins weren’t put out about having takeaway for supper and they seemed to have figured out their fight on their own. They didn’t seem too bothered about the idea of holding a press conference, after all; none of the Stark children had been formally introduced to the public—not even Morgan. By the time storytime rolled around, everyone was settled down and ready to listen to Pepper read to them. Bedtime wasn’t much of a hassle; big feelings in the Stark household usually meant tired children.

The rest of the week proceeded as usual and even into the next one; by Wednesday of the next week, almost everything had been ironed out and Pepper was taking Harley to work with her frequently—the boy had a mind for business and he and Pepper had grown close. Morgan was doing full days at school and Peter and Gwen were out patrolling and enjoying themselves. New York was particularly excited about their newest superhero: Spider-Woman.

Still, Gwen continued to pick at her food after dance class on Tuesday and she’d had a few more breakdowns where she wouldn’t tell him or Pepper what was wrong. It all came to a head on Wednesday night when Pepper brought up the family pictures.

“We’ll be having the press conference at the beginning of next week, so it only makes sense that we take a few photos. We might as well do a family photoshoot so we can hang a portrait up,” Pepper was saying.

Tony swore he was listening, but his eyes fell on his eldest daughter and how she seemed to shrink into herself at the idea of pictures.

“So we’ll be dressed up?” Peter asked. “Like in suits and stuff?”

Pepper smiled. “That’s the plan, formalwear for the pictures and the press conference. Gwen, we’ll have to go dress shopping.”

Tony couldn’t say he was terribly surprised when his daughter stood up and went “Nope.” Before running out of the room.

“I’ll go talk to her,” Pepper sighed knowingly. “Pictures can be overwhelming.”

“She doesn’t like pictures?” Harley asked Tony as Pepper left the room.

He shrugged. “Harls, people have a lot of feelings about a lot of things. I wouldn’t worry too much. It might be a shopping issue.”

“Is Gigi okay?” Morgan piped up from where she was trying to sneak broccoli onto Peter’s plate.

“Maguna, eat your greens. And yes, I’m sure your sister is fine,” Tony shook his head at his daughter’s answering pout.

“Not fine,” Pete said shakily. “Mom’s on her way back, no Gigi.”

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Harley said. “She could just have been tired.”

“Mom’s walk is not the good kind,” Peter reasoned. “She’s stressed.”

“Mommy has a stressed walk?”

“Guys,” Tony broke into the conversation; it looked like they weren’t going to have a quiet dinner after all. “Your mom and I can handle this, okay? You don’t need to go over-analysing every little detail. Emotions are hard and complicated, but we’re your parents.”

Pepper entered the room with a strained smile and added. “We’re here to take care of you, sometimes it’s hard to process things and you need time, that doesn’t mean you need to worry.”

Tony raised an eyebrow at her.

She motioned with her head for him to go.

“I’ll be right back, be good to your Mom,” he said as he got up.

Gwen was lying on her bed covered in her usual mountain of pillows and blankets, Tony noticed that she’d hung a sheet over the mirror in her room. He’d had a feeling he knew what was bothering her, but hadn’t wanted to make any assumptions.

“Hey Guinevere,” he said softly as he sat down beside her. “I’m going to have to insist you talk to me about this now, Pumpkin.”

A heavy sigh followed that statement, but then she said, “I don’t like the way I look sometimes. It’s hard to explain, like one day it’s okay and sometimes it’s just really not. A-and…”

Tony rested a hand where her head would be. “I’m listening Pumpkin.”

“Mirrors suck. And fancy clothes are hard to wear. A-and Mom’s so pretty, I didn’t think she would understand,” that last sentence seemed to break a damn within the teenager and she started to cry in earnest. “I _want_ to feel pretty and I _want_ to take pictures, but I’m scared.”

It had taken a while to coax his daughter out from under the blankets. Even longer to convince her that it was okay to have negative feelings even if those feelings weren’t true. Tony knew he couldn’t make it go away, but he was going to try his damndest to help his little girl feel okay in her skin.

“You know I struggled with body dysmorphia a lot when I was your age,” he told her honestly as he held her.

His daughter looked up at him and the shock written on her face was almost comical. “Really? Why?”

“Because I was fifteen years old and in college? Because my dad was an ass? Because I was a skinny kid who got bullied a lot? Maybe because it was just in my head and I couldn’t get rid of it. I don’t know, Pumpkin, but it hurt a lot and I didn’t like mirrors.”

“How’d you make it stop?” there was hope in her voice, honest to god hope that Tony was _not_ going to crush.

“For a long time, I didn’t,” if there was one thing he would never do, it was lie to his children. “I made a lot of poor choices. Even when I knew that people found me attractive, I still hated me. But, I got help—I talked to Dr. Phern about it—and she helped me take steps to look at myself and my life in a different way. I sometimes wear specific suits that I like because they make me feel more comfortable.”

“Like your Iron Man suits?” Gwen asked tentatively.

He couldn’t help the chuckle that followed. “Sometimes, but I’m talking about suits I can wear to black-tie events and not feel like everyone is staring at me and seeing all the flaws.”

“Y-you think I can find dresses that’ll make me feel that way?”

“I don’t know,” Tony answered honestly. “But, I think it couldn’t hurt to try.”

“Okay,” she sighed. “Can I wear a hoodie for the family portrait?”

_That’s not gonna fly with Pep_. “How about you wear a hoodie for the portrait we hang in the great room?”

“You think Mom will go for that?” Gwen asked hopefully.

“I think I might be able to convince her,” Tony smiled. “You know your mom loves you, right? She loves you _so much_ and will always make the best effort she can to support you and understand what you’re going through.”

“I know,” his daughter looked a little guilty. “I hurt her feelings, huh?”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so, I think she just wishes she knew how to help.”

Gwen nodded. “I’ll talk to her…but, can I stay here until storytime?”

“You sure can, Pumpkin. You still hungry or—?”

“No, I’m okay. Can I just stay here?”

“Yeah, you can just stay here, Pumpkin. Tell FRI if you need us, okay?”

“Okay, Daddy.”

The kids had been quieter than usual that evening and, when Tony had explained what was ailing their teenaged daughter, Pepper had broken down and wept in their bedroom. That had been a long night.

 

The following day, Morgan’s ADOS test came back positive, which was another can of worms that Tony wasn’t entirely sure how to handle. He’d been doing research and had custom ordered a weighted blanket for his youngest in hopes of it helping her feel secure.

“It’s just a lot of change, Tony,” Pepper had reassured him. “You’re telling me that you don’t lock yourself in your lab and freak out over the fact that we have four kids and no idea what we’re doing? She’ll adjust to her new reality soon enough.”

Pepper was right, of course, Morgan’s meltdowns had decreased significantly since the arrival of her blanket and since they had clearly explained and color coded her schedule—Morgan liked organized information, except she was also a being of controlled chaos. Tony had noticed that she tended to ask her siblings to bring her blanket to her when she was feeling stressed around the house.

“You like your blanket, huh?” he’d asked her one night when he was tucking her in.

Morgan had nodded eagerly. “It helps me focus.”

“Someone else I know likes things that help him focus,” Pepper had said as she kissed their daughter good night.

Tony hadn’t had the heart to argue.

He’d noticed, not that he wasn’t always paying attention to Morgan, that his youngest daughter was—well as Pepper was wont to say “his carbon copy”.

“She’s all you, Tony,” Pepper smiled one evening when they had taken a few minutes to themselves and come back to find Morgan having taken apart their toaster.

“Pete, Gwen, Harley?” he’d gaped. “Did _none_ of you think that your four year old sister taking apart the toaster was a bad plan?”

Peter had looked up from where he’d been playing a game on the TV, “She did what?”

“I can’t take any blame here, I was helping Gigi with her Calculus homework,” Harley said immediately; the experienced one of the set when it came to younger siblings.

Gwen simply held up her massive Calculus textbook and looked over at where Morgan was organizing pieces. “She seems to be doing okay.”

Morgan, it turned out, was _fixing_ the toaster because it kept burning toast—Tony couldn’t really argue with that one either.

“I’m almost done,” she informed him sagely from behind her safety goggles as he sat down beside her.

Tony didn’t know what to do other than nod. “Want to catch me up, Maguna?”

Pepper had snapped a couple of pictures and hadn’t bothered to say anything other than, “Nice work remembering to wear eye-protection, Baby.”

There had been an impeccable Stark sigh as Morgan had turned to look at her mother. “Mommy, it’s _dangerous_ to do experiments without safety goggles.”

“And where did you learn that, Morgan?” Pepper raised an eyebrow paying no mind to Morgan’s one hundred percent Stark attitude.

“Daddy,” the little girl said simply and had handed him a screwdriver. “Can you help me put this back together now, please?”

“Of course, sweetheart,” he’d not really known what else to say as he watched his wife’s smug expression.

_See? You’re a great dad._

 

Rhodey wasn’t really one for announcing his visits to his brother’s various abodes—Tony had insisted that Rhodey was his brother and anyone who said otherwise tended to get a face full of _very angry_ smart-ass genius—he just showed up and annoyed him while he worked in the lab. Now, of course, he’d been away for a few months dealing with the rebuilding and sorting out of all the new people in every country. It was weird to be both government and Avenger, but here he was trying to bridge that tedious gap.

He assumed that Tony would be in the lab with his now two kids—he’d been in Europe when Tony had informed him of Peter’s aunt’s accident and how they were setting up the Tower in New York as their home for most of the year as a result.

He figured he might want to get a feel for what the kid liked and stuff before he did the whole ‘Uncle Rhodey has presents!’ bit. Being an uncle was definitely a highlight of his life; Morgan was a sweetheart and Rhodey was excited to have a nephew now too.

“Welcome Col. Rhodes,” FRIDAY said as he stepped out of the penthouse elevator.

“Hi FRIDAY,” he commented.

“UNCLE RHODEY!” a shrill cry that could only come from one little girl echoed through the room followed by the sound of running bare-feet on hardwood.

“Princess!” Rhodey grinned as he scooped his niece up into his arms and threw her up into the air. “Where’s your dad, Morgan?”

“In the lab,” she said matter-of-factly.

“And you’re up here on your own?” _That’s unusual_.

“Nope, Petey, Gigi, and Bubba are here too.”

“Who?” he asked her as they walked into the great room.

A chorus of, “Hi Uncle Rhodey!” greeted him.

“Uh,” Rhodey paused.

The spider-kid—Pete—was playing what looked like Zelda on the TV while a blond girl was hanging upside-down from the ceiling with a calculus textbook in her hands, another kid—older than Peter—was holding what looked like a physics book and staring at him curiously.

“Colonel James Rhodes, right?” the kid with the physics book asked.

“Yeah, Uncle Rhodey around here, usually,” he admitted.

The kid smirked. “I’m Harley, technically Tony’s first kid.”

“Pretty sure that’s Morgan,” the girl hanging from the ceiling commented. “I’m Gwen, by the way, also Dad—I mean, Tony’s kid. Hi Uncle Rhodey.”

“Your dad get two more kids while I was off fixing international affairs?” Rhodey asked Peter who was grinning, this kid—he _knew—_ couldn’t lie for anything.

“Yep,” Pete popped the p at the end of the word. “Technically _I_ might be Tony’s first kid since, you know, he was sort of my mentor before everything.”

“I’m technically Tony’s _only_ kid from another reality,” Gwen shot back.

“Wait what?” Rhodey looked at Morgan for help.

“They do this sometimes,” she replied before joining in. “I think, I’m Daddy’s first kid because I was actually _born_ his kid.”

“You’re _all_ my first kids in some way or another,” Tony’s voice came from behind him and Rhodey turned around.

“You have _more_ kids?”

“Hi Platypus,” his pseudo-brother grinned. “Did everyone say hi to uncle honey-bear?”

“Is he a platypus or a honey-bear?” Peter asked as he got up and walked to the kitchen. “Gigi think fast.”

The girl reached her hand out just in time to catch the apple. “Thanks, Petey.”

“Grab me a granola bar, will you?” The other kid, Harley, told Peter.

Rhodey felt his eyebrows raise. “Tones, how many do you have?”

“Just the four,” Tony replied. “Alright that’s last call for snacks before supper, guys.”

“I want blueberries!” Morgan said quickly as she squirmed to get out of his hold.

“I got ‘em, Morg,” Peter answered as he walked by with his own apple and handed the little girl an open pack of chocolate covered blueberries.

“ _Just_ four? Jeez, Tones, you sound disappointed,” Rhodey laughed as he followed Tony into the kitchen.

“He _is_ ,” Gwen called after them. “Mom made him promise no more kids.”

“ _What?_ ”

“Guinevere, you know you shouldn’t have been part of that conversation.”

“We know she loves us, Tony,” Harley said without looking up from his book.

Tony rolled his eyes. “Pete, put that game down and finish the homework I _know_ you’re procrastinating, Underoos.”

“Yes, Dad,” Pete didn’t even put up a fight. “FRI save game.”

Rhodey felt like he had walked into an alternate dimension, one where his best-friend had four genius children two of which appeared to be spider-kids and one of which was a toddler. “Tones, seriously man, tell me the extra two are visiting or friends?”

Tony shook his head. “Nope. Gwen is Peter’s twin from another reality— _that’s a story_ —Harley is my protégé from back when Killian was trying to end my life and kidnap Pepper, and Peter and Morgan you know.”

“And Pepper said you couldn’t have any more kids?” because somehow _that_ felt like the only part of the situation he might be able to wrap his mind around.

Tony let out a tell-tale sigh. “Actually, what she said was: _Tony, where do you want me to put any more kids? Unless you’re planning on overhauling every house we own, we need to cap it at four_. So, I _could_ actually just have them rebuild the penthouse with more bedrooms if I wanted more kids.”

“Tony, are you okay, man?” Rhodey just wasn’t sure what else to say to that.

“Oh I’m fine, brilliant. I have four great kids, none of whom want to do their homework and all of whom want to have different things to eat for supper,” his friend rolled his eyes. “Not to mention the _three_ science fair projects we’ll need to deal with this year.”

“You sound like such a dad, right now, man.”

“Shockingly, there are four kids in the family room that seem to be proof that I more than just _sound_ like a dad,” Tony grinned. “Life is good Rhodey, _really_ good.”

“Yeah? I’m sure parenting four kids can’t be easy.”

“Nothing worth it is easy,” Rhodey never thought he’d hear _those_ words from his best friend. “Sure we’ve got homework, and Spider-Kid patrols, and therapy sessions, and lab time, and Morgan’s adjustment to school has been a little bumpy, but things are really working out. Pep will be home in a bit so we should get started on dinner.”

That was how Rhodey ended up witnessing his ex-playboy best-friend-slash-brother call his small army of children to the kitchen and make them prepare dinner. Morgan sat on the island reading off instructions and reminding people to stop adding spices or to add more, she was also in charge of determining if they had enough chocolate chips for cookies—spoilers, they did. Peter was doing the mashed potatoes, while Gwen and Harley were on salads and vegetables. Tony had enlisted him to help with the steaks.

“Welcome Home Mrs. Boss,” FRIDAY said, announcing Pepper’s arrival.

“Hello FRI, oh! Hi Rhodey, did you have a good flight in?” Pepper smiled as she saw him.

“Mrs. Boss?” Tony frowned, but sidestepped him to kiss his wife. “Did one of you change the names in FRI’s system?”

“Not it.” Morgan said immediately.

“Not it,” Gwen added from her perch on the ceiling, Rhodey wasn’t entirely sure how she was making salad upside-down, but she was.

“The names were dumb, Dad,” Peter said sheepishly as he hugged Tony, probably in an effort to get his dad not to ground him for messing with his code.

Harley held up both hands. “In my defense, I didn’t know we _weren’t_ allowed to program FRI to call us by our first names.”

Rhodey grinned at Pepper. “Are they always like this?”

His sister-in-law grinned back. “All. The. Time.”

Tony, however, was not amused. “Did you change anything else?”

“No Dad, promise,” Peter said immediately, the kid’s eyes were shining with honesty.

Harley nodded in agreement, “We _only_ reprogrammed the names, Tony. Honest.”

“Okay,” his friend was still frowning. “You can’t go reprogramming FRI, guys. Same goes for you two girls. FRIDAY runs _a lot_ of SI and the Avengers and my personal labs, she does more work than anyone on earth except your Mom. No touching her code, got it?”

“Got it.” All four kids repeated followed by various versions of what he had just said in turn.

Pepper motioned him over to the dining room so they could set the table. “Tony’s a stickler for making sure they understand what he says. He has them repeat it back to him almost every time.”

Rhodey looked at her surprised. “I knew he was really Irondading it with Morgan, I didn’t realize he could get any _more_ paternal.”

“Yet here we are,” Pepper smiled.

“How’re you holding up with being a mom of four, Pepper?” he asked genuinely.

She seemed to perk up at that. “Honestly? It’s really great. It’s tough, we have a lot going on all the time, but I get to take Harley to work with me a few days a week and Morgan took apart the toaster the other day so things have been going pretty well.”

“She took apart the toaster? Guess I shouldn’t be surprised; she _is_ Tony’s kid.”

“Oh you have no idea,” Pepper laughed. “It’s like I have four smaller versions of Tony running around my life in addition to the original. Peter and Gwen blew up a chemistry lab last week and then they were upset about getting grounded for it.”

Rhodey snorted. “Can’t say I’m surprised. I take it Gwen is as much of genius as the rest?”

Pepper nodded. “Actually, I’m glad you’re here, Rhodey.”

“Uh-oh, that’s that Pepper Potts has a plan voice,” he grinned at her. “What’s up Pep?”

“We need to do some family portraits this weekend, and having you there to help would be a real blessing,” she said carefully, and then seemed to decide to bite the bullet. “And, if you could stick around for the first part of the week, we have a press conference scheduled to announce the kids.”

“Oh. Oh wow, Pep, that’s a lot going on in a few days.”

“The kids aren’t all super excited about it,” she admitted. “But, it needs to get done and if we have some official family pictures for the media it’ll be less of a hassle.”

Rhodey shook his head. “It’s going to be a circus.”

“It really is,” she sighed. “But we need to keep the kids safe so we need to make the announcement before the media catches wind of how many of them we have and starts speculating.”

 

Tony wasn’t sure he liked the idea of dressing his kids up in clothes they—okay mostly Gwen—hated and standing them up in front of a group of reporters. Still, Gwen had found a black dress with gold and red highlights that she liked and Pepper had let her wear her hot-rod red chuck-taylors so his little girl was feeling a little more comfortable.

_Just let this be over_. He thought as he and Pepper stepped towards the podium.

The children were standing in an adjacent room with Happy, Rhodey, Natasha, and Steve. Tony was pretty sure Nat was ready to take out as many reporters as necessary to get her nieces and nephews to safety. Steve was their first line of defense if anything went south, he was liked enough that it wouldn’t be an issue if he got mad. Peter had wanted Bruce to come along, but the man himself had nixed the idea stating that he didn’t want to risk actually harming a reporter for looking at them the wrong way.

Pepper was speaking, she was explaining something or other about the state of Stark Industries and its role in philanthropy. Tony wasn’t really listening.

“Tony and I will now take any questions you have,” Pepper said pulling him forward a little bit.

The kids were supposed to be a small announcement at the end of the conference, this was really about philanthropy and the company’s continuing efforts in clean energy.

“Want to pick someone, honey?” Pepper said quietly.

Tony grinned; he loved pointing out random things about reporters. “You with the green tie and the funny hat.”

“Is it true that you have two kids, Mr. Stark?” well that took a turn.

Tony heard Pepper give a Stark sigh and he put an arm around her. “No, we do not have two kids.”

Silence.

“Oh go on then,” his wife whispered.

“We have four wonderful children,” Tony thought his face might hurt from smiling as pandemonium broke out in the room.

“ _Four_ children? Mr. Stark are they all your children?”

“Are they illegitimate heirs?”

“There have been rumours about adoptions, any comments?”

Pepper rolled her eyes. “If you would all _please_ regain your seats. My husband has a flair for the dramatic. Yes, Tony and I have four wonderful children, some of whom are adopted, but all of whom are part of our family and heirs to SI. Three of them are under the age of eighteen and _all_ of them are under the full force of the Stark Family’s Legal Team’s protection. Under _no_ circumstances are pictures, quotes or sightings to be published without the expressed permission from our representatives. Our children are human beings and deserve to have private lives.”

“Our children,” Tony added, “do not like being harassed and if my lovely wife wasn’t clear enough; we _will_ sue you and everyone associated to you within an inch of your lives if any of our kids feel threatened. FRI you can put the pictures up now.”

The screen behind them filled with the official Stark Family portrait that had been taken two days prior.

“Will the children be making an appearance today?” a reporter asked.

Pepper nodded. “Yes, very briefly and they will not be answering any questions if they don’t feel comfortable doing so.”

“You in the jeans,” Tony pointed.

“How do you balance being a multibillion dollar CEO and a superhero with being parents?”

“Very carefully,” he replied with a smirk. “And, I’m actually not a superhero anymore; I retired. I’m a full time father and tinkerer now.”

“Alright,” Pepper took a deep breath. “Our children will be making a _very short_ appearance now.”

The kids walked across the front of the room and up to them very carefully. Harley had his arm around Gwen shielding her from most of the reporters, Peter was holding Morgan’s hand as she skipped towards the podium.

“Daddy! Mommy!” Morgan’s smile was almost aggressively joyous as she let Tony pick her up and hand her over to Pepper.

Peter gave him a quick hug before ducking over to Pepper’s side where she gave him a quick kiss on the forehead.

Gwen reached him and his poor girl was shaking slightly, but she had a brave face on as she said, “Hi, Daddy,” and tucked herself into his right side so that Harley could stand on his left.

“World,” Tony said with his effortless public persona voice, “meet my family. Harley here is Pepper and my eldest, Gwen and Peter are almost twins, and our youngest Morgan.”

Hands went up immediately.

“Do you kids want to answer questions?” he asked them.

Pepper chimed in. “No is a perfectly valid answer.”

“I’ll take one!” Morgan said bravely and Tony knew instantly that they were going to be in trouble when she realized how much social power she had.

“Okay, pick one out sweetie,” Pepper said as if she were asking Morgan to pick a pair of shoes.

“Uh—um, the lady with the funny glasses!” Tony had to laugh; she really is his mini-me.

The woman smiled, and asked a harmless question. “How old are you and your brothers and sisters?”

“I’m almost _five_ , my birthday is in twelve days. Peter and Gwen,” Morgan was very careful to say her siblings’ names correctly, they had told her to do so because the press didn’t need to know anyone’s nicknames, “are fifteen, they’ll be sixteen next year. And, my big brother Harley is nineteen.”

“Thank you,” the woman said kindly and Tony decidedly thought that she was less of a shark because she didn’t try to ask a second question.

“I’ll take one, can’t let Morgan have all the fun,” Harley said into the microphone. “The man with the purple tie.”

Tony realized belatedly that there was probably a better way to identify these people, but his children apparently had no qualms following in his footsteps when it came to the press—that was both a good and potentially a terrible thing.

“What is it like being _the_ Tony Stark’s son?”

“I mean he’s such a dad and Pepper is a mom,” Harley smiled at them. “They get on my case about college and stuff. It’s like being someone’s son.”

“ _Do_ you have any plans for college?”

Tony wasn’t a particular fan of this guy, but Harley humoured him. “Yeah, a few ideas.”

“Next question,” Pepper cut in abruptly.

“I’ll take a question, Mom,” Peter said into her mic.

Unprompted a man near the back with a logo Tony didn’t recognize asked. “Of all the outcomes of having a drunk driving relative, I guess you lucked out, huh?”

Tony saw red as Pepper took the mic from their son and said. “We’re done here.”

“The party’s over,” he said firmly as the room exploded and quieted immediately after to hear him. “That man over there with the stupid hair, and the—what is that? Big Brother Watch?—Logo just ended the party by being an asshole. If you have any questions ask Content Conflict over there, since, clearly, he knows everything.”

Pepper was already ushering the children out and Tony’s grip on Gwen didn’t loosen as Harley moved to help shield his camera-shy sister from any further scrutiny; Pepper had a hold on Peter and Morgan.

Morgan, a girl truly after his own heart, promptly exclaimed with the expressed intention of lightening the mood. “We’re going to get cheeseburgers!”

That sent a laugh rippling through their family as they stepped away from the frantic reporters.

“That absolute dick!” Rhodey looked so pissed Tony would have been worried for the journalist’s safety if he cared, which he definitely didn’t.

Happy was motioning for them to take the backway out and get into the SUV, but it was Steve that caught Tony’s attention as he sent the rest of his family out with their head of security; Captain America was at the podium.

“On behalf of Tony and Pepper, I would like to thank you all for coming and being respectful of the Stark family and children—except you, jackass.”

Tony couldn’t help the text he sent to Steve as Gwen looked up at him curiously, she’d been unwilling to leave his side.

Rogers paused and Tony knew he was reading the message. “Tony would also like me to remind you to stay the fuck away from his family. Thank you.”

Gwen was grinning as she took his hand. “Can we go now, Daddy?”

“Yes we can, Pumpkin.”

“Aunty Nat is on her phone,” his daughter observed quietly. “Is she destroying that guy’s life?”

“Yes she is,” Tony knew with certainty that his kids were going to be just fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hope this was alright. Let me know?


	12. Parties and Progress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get a little hectic in the Stark Household as Morgan has her birthday party and Tony goes on a business trip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a midterm tomorrow and I spent the entire time I should've been studying writing this because I wrote it three times and hated it. So hopefully it's decent now.

Morgan’s birthday party had been scheduled for the first Saturday of November. Pepper and Tony had spent the better part of the last week asking the little girl what she wanted to do, not that Morgan had been particularly interested in anything other than the prospect of birthday cake; it apparently always tasted better than normal cake. In the end, five other kids from their youngest’s class were invited to share the day with her.

“This is a lovely party, Pepper,” one of the kids’ mothers was saying to his wife; Tony couldn’t remember anyone’s name.

It _was_ a great party, there had been a tea party followed by a nerf gun fight and Pepper had arranged for different science experiment tables to be set up so that the children could do some educational things as well. They had opted to use one of the lower floors of the tower for the party instead of their own living space—Tony was grateful; he didn’t like having people in his home. The whole floor was decorated in Avengers themed paraphernalia, Morgan had been in awe of it when she had walked in. Except that was the problem…

 _Where’s Morgan?_ Tony frowned as he looked to where the older kids had holed up in a corner around a table with a screen propped up; Peter and Gwen were in some sort of heated contest over a videogame, Harley was chiming in with advice as he waited his turn—Morgan wasn’t with them.

His youngest daughter wasn’t with the other children her age, she wasn’t with her older siblings, nor was she with the adults…

“Excuse me,” Tony said softly as he stepped away from Pepper and made his way to the elevator, once the silver doors closed he asked. “FRI, where’s Maguna?”

“Morgan is currently in her bedroom, Boss.”

“Right,” he’d had a feeling that she had escaped the crowded floor; it was what he would have done. “How is she?”

“She is reading a book, all of her vitals appear to be steady; she does not appear to be in distress.”

“Okay that’s good,” he nodded and stepped out into the penthouse.

Sure enough, he found his daughter on her bedroom floor under her weighted blanket reading her favorite book; a large tome filled with the stories of women who marked history. Morgan’s curious brown eyes found his as he walked in, but she didn’t move from where she was.

Tony smiled and sat down next to her. “Hey Maguna, whatcha doing?”

“Reading,” she answered as though it were obvious. “The party made me tired.”

He nodded. “Parties make me tired too.”

That got her attention. “Will Mommy be worried?”

Tony shook his head. “No, I think Mommy will understand that we were tired. Did you have a good time anyway?”

Morgan smiled. “It was fun! I liked making slime with Bubba and Gaby, and playing with the circuits with you and Felix. And, the birthday cake was the _best_!”

“Sounds like you had a great birthday, Baby.”

She nodded and pulled her blanket with her as she climbed into his lap. “Will you read to me, Daddy?”

“Of course,” Tony couldn’t think of a better way to spend his afternoon than that. “So, Marie Curie was…”

 

Pepper wasn’t terribly impressed that the guest of honour had vanished from her own party, but she was _definitely_ annoyed at her husband for bailing. Still, the show must go on, so she thanked all of the guests on behalf of Morgan and promised that she would pass on the well wishes—her daughter had somehow managed to disappear with her father without anyone noticing.

“Gwen, sweetie, did you see where Morgan and Daddy went?” she asked her eldest daughter after the last of the guests had left; Gwen was sitting out the round of whatever videogame had the older kids so enraptured.

“No,” the teenager shook her head not looking away. “Left Harley!”

“I _know_ ,” her brother retorted.

“FRI?” Pepper called up to the ceiling.

“Boss and Morgan are in her bedroom.”

“Better than the lab,” she sighed and looked at her three teenagers. “Twenty minutes, then I want you upstairs, okay?”

A myriad of affirmative noises that she wasn’t sure meant they’d actually heard her were her only reply, but she figured that they had been fairly patient with the children’s birthday party so she would let it slide.

Pepper _had_ meant to tell off her two wayward family members about leaving parties, but she really couldn’t when she opened Morgan’s bedroom door and found her husband leaning against her daughter’s bed with the little girl wrapped up and asleep in his arms. Tony, somehow, had fallen asleep sitting up, and Morgan’s favorite book lay open on the floor displaying a female astrophysicist.

 _All the furniture in this house and they still sit on the floor,_ she smiled fondly.

“Tony, hon,” she shook her husband’s shoulder gently.

“Hm,” he blinked up at her. “What’s wrong, Pep?”

“Nothing,” Pepper told him softly. “The party’s over, I figured you might want to take your nap in an actual bed?”

“Oh yeah, probably,” Tony looked down at Morgan settled in his lap with her hand grabbing tightly onto his shirt. “Maybe I’ll just stay in here.”

It took a little bit of insisting and some effort to get father, daughter, and heavy blanket onto the toddler bed and situated comfortably, but Pepper couldn’t bring herself to be even a little annoyed given how precious the whole thing was. Besides, Morgan and Tony were legendary insomniacs so any sleep they _did_ get was good.

 

“Mommy?” Pepper looked up from her tablet, she had been coordinating the last minute details for Morgan’s birthday charity event that none of them were actually attending.

Morgan was standing wide eyed at the bottom of the stairs, still in her rumpled party dress.

“Yes, Baby,” she smiled at the little girl and opened her arms.

“I took a nap,” Morgan sighed as she stepped into Pepper’s embrace and let herself be pulled into her lap. “The party made me and Daddy tired, Mommy.”

Pepper smiled. “Parties do that, it’s okay to be tired and go somewhere quiet.”

Harley walked back into the living room from the office. “Hey Morg, you’re awake!”

“Mhm,” the little girl nodded whilst rubbing her eyes. “Wanna play?”

“Sure,” her older brother didn’t even spare a glance at the pages he’d retrieved and instead set to work setting up the videogame console. “Preference, birthday girl?”

Morgan grinned broadly. “Let’s play Smash!”

Pepper marveled at how easily her eldest and youngest child were able to bond, the two kids chatted amiably about the game, about Morgan’s school, about the party and what her favorite parts were—Harley didn’t even seem to be forcing himself to be patient, but rather was having a genuine conversation with Morgan who was almost a quarter of his age.

Tony found his way downstairs about half an hour after Morgan did, his suit was wrinkled and his hair stuck up in odd directions, but his genuine smile was Pepper’s favorite thing in the whole world. The fact that her husband could settle onto the couch beside her and _rest_ while their children played was a gift she would never take for granted.

“Where’re the Spider-Kids?” he asked eventually as Morgan’s character threw Harley’s over the edge of the overly complicated battle area.

“They went out to patrol for a while after I banned them from videogames for the rest of the day,” she told him turning back to her tablet. “We’ll need to make a public appearance, soon.”

Tony groaned. “No, I don’t think we do. We’re fine just sitting here enjoying domestic life. Let’s pull the kids from school, move back to the Lake House and homeschool them.”

Pepper snorted. “ _That_ would go over well.”

“Thought I was being forced into a semester at MIT,” Harley commented offhandedly. “Gosh darn it Morg!”

“You need to be faster,” Morgan shot back. “And, you _want_ to go to college and study business; you told me so.”

“Business?” Tony raised an eyebrow at that.

Pepper wasn’t surprised, Harley really had a head for it. “I think that’s great!”

“Well, I want to try stuff out first,” their son said carefully. “Morg, that conversation was in _confidence_.”

“Sorry,” their daughter frowned and looked at her brother guiltily. “I didn’t mean to.”

“I know,” Harley grinned and put an arm around her. “It’s okay just this one time.”

“Okay,” Morgan seemed satisfied as she rested against him. “I don’t want you to go, Bubba.”

Tony looked like he was going to say something so Pepper quickly rested a hand on his arm; the children seemed to have forgotten that they were there at all.

“I know, I don’t really want to go either, but college is important and I’ll learn a lot of cool thing,” Harley said as they turned back to the game. “Besides, MIT isn’t actually that far away and I can be home on the weekend.”

“Are you _sure_?”

“Yeah, I’ll come home a lot. I promise.”

“Okay. You’ll miss me when you’re gone?”

“More than anything, Baby sis.”

Pepper smiled, her children were so precious. As if called upon to break the emotionally charged moment, Peter and Gwen came crashing through the open window.

“I got here first!” Gwen grinned proudly.

Peter shook his head. “Nope, I’m pretty sure I got through the window first.”

Gwen pulled her hood off. “FRI, who got home first?”

“Unfortunately, Gwen, it appears that Peter entered the penthouse a hundredth of a second before you did.”

“Damn!” the girl stomped her foot as Peter pulled his mask off and threw his arms up in the air.

“Don’t say damn,” Tony chastised automatically.

Peter rolled his eyes. “You sound like Captain America.”

“The fact that we _know_ that Captain America is a total dork is the only reason that doesn’t sound cool, bro,” Harley shot back in Tony’s defense.

At the same time, Gwen looked at her father with a frown. “ _You_ say damn.”

“I’m allowed to say damn because I’m dad,” Tony reasoned.

“That isn’t how that works,” Peter said amusedly. “You’re supposed to be a good example or some sh—sugar.”

“Shit,” Morgan pipped up correcting her brother.

Harley grinned. “He’s a _great_ example.”

Tony smirked. “See? I do a good job!”

“Of what not to do,” their eldest son continued.

Pepper snorted at the offended look on her husband’s face. “Alright, let’s talk food. No more swearing.”

“Food is good,” Gwen agreed as she plopped down next to Morgan still in her spider suit. “Whatcha feelin’ birthday girl?”

Morgan grinned broadly. “Juice pops!”

“Juice pops for supper?” Tony asked skeptically. “I don’t think there are enough juice pops in the whole world to feed your brothers a full meal, Maguna.”

Pepper nodded; Tony had tactfully omitted the fact that Gwen’s metabolism was just as fast as Peter’s and that the girl ate just as much as her brothers—but she was sensitive about it so they made it a point never to bring it up, even jokingly.

“We need real food, Baby sis,” Gwen tried again. “How about Italian?”

Morgan shook her head. “I don’t want any more pasta sauce stuff.”

“Mexican?” Harley suggested; he was a big fan of the spicy food.

“Nah,” the little girl threw his character off screen again.

“What about pizza?” Peter asked.

Their littlest Stark actually paused the game to stare at him in the most Tony-esque way imaginable. “We _just_ had Pizza a few hours ago. Are you okay?”

Her brother shrugged as Harley chuckled and Gwen stuck out her tongue at him from behind Morgan. “Fine, what do _you_ want?”

“Um,” she paused, seeming to actually have to think about it for a while. “Chinese, but from that really good place.”

Tony smirked. “The one on 4th?”

“Yep!” Morgan popped the P at the end of the word and resumed the game. “I like their chicken, it’s yummy.”

Pepper smiled. “I guess we’re having Chinese, then.”

Her husband reached for his phone to place the order when it rang. “I’ll just take this, FRI order the food.”

The kids looked up from the TV. “Dad?”

“It’s just a phone call. People _do_ want to reach me sometimes, you know.”

That phone call sucked.

Tony had to go out of town for an International Summit for four days and the kids were _not_ thrilled about it, and to be completely frank, neither was Pepper. Being a CEO and a mother was hard, being a CEO and a mother of four with no back up? Even _she_ wasn’t sure she could handle it. Still, the international accords needed to go into place as quickly and as smoothly as possible or else there would be a massive debate about the necessity of superheroes and that was a can of worms that _no one_ wanted reopened.

“Even Carol is coming in for this one,” Tony told them over dinner. “Pete pass the chicken.”

“I just don’t see why _you_ need to go,” Harley frowned as he spooned more vegetables onto his plate and some onto Gwen’s; she had avoided them all together on the first pass.

His sister frowned. “That’s too much!”

“It’s fine,” Tony said as he looked up at her. “Eat your greens.”

Peter snickered, but turned serious and looked at his dad. “Do you really need to leave?”

Pepper raised an eyebrow as Gwen looked like she was about to have her own version of an Iron Princess, but instead the teenager shrugged and said, “Why _do_ you have to go? Haven’t you given enough? We want you _home_.”

“Where’s Daddy going?” Morgan pouted.

 _Oh boy_ , there was no way this wasn’t ending in at least one tantrum; either from the kids or Tony himself.

“Kids,” Tony clapped his hands. “I need to go away for a few days for a work thing, I’ll be home before you know it. In the mean time, you guys need to be good for your mom, got it?”

“Got it.”

“Okay Dad.”

“Got it, Daddy.”

“Fine.”

 

The kids said good bye to Tony at 9PM on the night he left, he was standing by the balcony getting ready to board the Quinn-jet and had hugged each of them in turn. Peter had been a cuddle-bug during the day before he left so between him and Morgan, Tony really hadn’t stood a chance at being alone. Pepper had found it adorable. Harley had been a little more reserved, but the worry in their eldest son’s eyes had broken Pepper’s heart a little; she knew Harley felt responsible for all of them when Tony was away—she doubted it was something they could ever get him to fully abandon.

Gwen had been several different levels of stressed over the days since they’d told the kids Tony would be gone for a few days; she had stuck close to Tony, then she’d distanced herself, then she’d cried, and finally she had settled for hugging him whenever Morgan and Peter weren’t monopolizing his attention. Pepper wasn’t sure how Gwen would handle the next few days; it wasn’t that she and her older daughter weren’t close, they were, but Gwendolyn was the definition of a Daddy’s girl—she wasn’t a difficult child and she didn’t get into trouble at school, but she _did_ stick close to Tony as much as possible, going so far as to stay on coms with him while she patrolled. Gwen loved whatever it was Tony did and she took special care to keep him up to date with everything in her life something neither of the boys were particularly strict about. In short, Tony was Gwen’s rock and he was about to be gone for four days.

All the kids had gone upstairs, even Morgan had agreed that Peter could tuck her in until Pepper went up to do so.

“I don’t know how I’m going to do this without backup,” she admitted to her husband.

Tony shook his head. “You’re the best mother in the whole world, Pepper. The most qualified and smartest person I’ve ever met.”

“I love you,” and she meant it with her whole heart.

“I love you more,” he kissed her then, with all the feeling that he had every single day they had been together, through every hardship. “Not that it’s a competition or anything.”

She knew Tony was trying to make her laugh, and it worked. “Alright, go. The sooner you leave; the sooner you’ll be back.”

Tony was almost to the door when a set of footsteps came racing down the stairs, a streak of blond flew by Pepper.

Gwen in her Iron Man pajamas and tears in her eyes pleaded, “Daddy, don’t go.”

Pepper could see that it took all of his will power for Tony not to give in and stay.

“I’ll bring you back a present, Pumpkin, okay?” he tried as their daughter kept her arms locked around his middle.

“I don’t want a present; I’m not _five_. Besides, we’re _loaded_ , I want you to stay home,” even through her tears, their daughter was indignant.

Pepper wondered then at the possibility of Gwen having separation anxiety, something to bring up with her therapist. “Sweetie, Daddy needs to leave. The sooner he does, the sooner he’ll be back.”

It took them another few minutes before Gwen was safely tucked under Pepper’s arm, pouting, but no longer crying.

It was going to be a long couple of days.

Pepper wasn’t terribly surprised on the second night Tony was away to find her eldest daughter’s bed empty. Morgan had gotten up for the fifth time that night; another trait owed to Tony—Starks didn’t sleep apparently, genetically Morgan was either a night owl or an insomniac—and after she’d put her youngest back to bed, Pepper had decided to do bed checks. Peter’s bed had been empty as well, but a quick check with Friday located him having a sleepover with Harley.

It wasn’t uncommon for the boys to have sleepovers; sometimes they stayed up talking and then one of them didn’t want to move. Tony had stopped getting up every time someone had a nightmare, excluding Morgan of course, because the teenagers had argued that if they needed help they would ask. Pepper knew they felt guilty for his sleep deprivation. Still, Peter didn’t always like being alone after he’d woken up from a bad dream and Harley had insisted that it was fine if his brother wanted to stay with him instead of waking their parents.

Peter’s nightmares were also happening so infrequently that it wasn’t much of a hardship. So the sleepover made sense.

What didn’t make sense was Gwen’s disappearance.

“FRIDAY,” Pepper asked the AI as she checked the main floor for her daughter. “Where’s Gwen?”

“Gwen is currently in Boss’ private garage.”

“It’s one in the morning!”

“It is currently 1:23AM Mrs. Boss.”

Pepper sighed. “Yes, thank you FRIDAY.”

She was on her way down to the garage when her cellphone rang, “Tony?”

“Hey Pep, how’re you? I know it’s late, I figured I’d leave a message or something, but you’re still awake,” it was so nice to hear his voice, even if it was from a remote location that she wasn’t supposed to know anything about.

“It’s _very_ late at night and I _would_ be sleeping if Morgan could stay in bed,” she told him a little accusingly.

“It’s the Stark genes, I’m sorry,” to his credit he sounded remorseful. “How many times tonight?”

“Five as far as I know, but I think Peter might’ve put her back to bed a few more times,” the elevator stopped. “I’d actually be in bed now if I hadn’t lost track of our other insomniac.”

“Gwen? You lost her?” he didn’t sound concerned, more amused. “You know she wouldn’t sneak out, she promised not to leave without telling someone if she needed air.”

“Oh she’s in the tower,” Pepper switched the call to video and held it up to the glass separating the garage from the hallway with the elevator.

Gwen was under one of the vintage models Tony had collected for restoration, Pepper could tell from the monitors that she had rock music going and was lost to the world. Somehow, she wasn’t sure how, Gwen managed to get DUM-E from the lab and he was handing her various tools—far more effectively than he had ever done for Tony.

“Shit.”

“That’s one word for it,” Pepper said as she walked into the garage, she wasn’t surprised when Gwen didn’t notice her. “FRIDAY turn the music off.”

Black Sabbath stopped blaring from the speakers and Pepper put the phone on speaker and turned it towards her daughter.

“FRI, dear, what have I told you about turning down my music? _Don’t_ turn down my music!” the teenager rolled out from under the car, she was in her Iron Man pajamas again tonight, her eyes widened when she saw the phone. “Daddy! How’s Pra—I mean, the place where you are that I have no idea?”

“Pumpkin,” Pepper knew Tony couldn’t help but be happy to see their daughter. “I’m doing okay, things are fine here. But, I know for a fact that where you are it’s the middle of the night and you’re not in bed.”

“And covered in grease,” Pepper pointed out.

Gwen blinked as if just noticing her for the first time. “Um, hi Mom. Uh—I couldn’t sleep.”

“I thought you locked the lab, Tony,” she knew that the kids tended to escape down into the lab with their father when they had particularly bad nights.

“He did,” Gwen assured her. “But he didn’t lock the garage and I’m not allowed _into_ the lab, but DUM-E is allowed _out_ of it.”

“Smart girl,” Tony grinned and Pepper rolls her eyes.

“Tony, we need to be a united front on this one.”

“Gwen, Pumpkin, you need to sleep,” her husband said from the phone, Pepper wasn’t impressed by the lack of conviction behind his tone, but Tony had never been a hypocrite so she didn’t hold it against him.

Their daughter frowned and her bottom lip stuck out just enough that Pepper could tell she was a few reprimands away from a full-blown pout. “But I couldn’t sleep and when I can’t sleep you—” she cut herself off. “Don’t do anything irresponsible and let me have a glass of milk before tucking me back in.”

Pepper knew for a fact that the lie was for her benefit, but she played along. “I take it the milk didn’t work?”

Gwen shook her head. “No, and I had this um…need to work on something so I figured I’d work on the car.”

Tony sighed, he sounded more exasperated than anything. “Gwendolyn. Bed. Now. You’re keeping your mother up.”

“Okay, Daddy,” Gwen yawned slightly and nodded; she was probably getting tired anyway. “Good night Mom.”

Pepper watched her enter the elevator and head up before she looked around the garage. “Tony, she’s all you.”

“I know,” he sighed again. “It’s my fault, Pep, I let her work on the cars with me for an hour when she really can’t go back to sleep.”

“That’s not a bad thing, Tony,” she knew how much the cars meant to him and Harley loved fixing things, but he wasn’t a car guy the way Tony was, and Peter was far more chemist and superhero than car enthusiast—Morgan was too young to really be interested in the cars right now too. “I know Gwen is our only _true_ vintage car and rock fan. But, it only really works as a sleep inducer if you’re here to control how long she spends in the garage rather than letting her stay in here all night instead of sleeping.”

Pepper talked to her husband for a while longer in the garage before hanging up and heading back upstairs. She loved him and it was always hard when he was away or when she was away from him—god, business trips were a killer—but she loved her children and it was nice to have them around. Even if they wouldn’t sleep.

“Gwendolyn,” Pepper sighed as she walked into her daughter’s room. “It’s two in the morning, you need to be up in four and a half hours.”

Gwen was sitting on her canopy bed with the hangings tied to the bedposts and her stuffed toys piled near the headboard. She had decorated her room in her favorite colors: pink, black, and white, although her Iron Man stuffy clashed miserably with the bedspread—all the kids had one, just in case they really needed their dad; Pepper wasn’t convinced that Tony hadn’t implanted trackers in the toys. Gwen was reading a magazine, which was unusual, but Pepper was even more surprised that it was a magazine she recognized.

“Sweetie, why are you reading gossip rags?”

Her daughter looked up with a guilty expression on her face. “I just wanted to know what they wrote. And you and Daddy don’t like when we read the tabloids, but I was curious so I picked it up…”

Pepper smiled and came to sit next to her. “Being curious isn’t a crime, it’s just that they’re not usually very flattering and you don’t need that kind of negativity in your life.”

Gwen grimaced. “This one isn’t so bad. They’re all saying I’m the quiet child of the family though; they can’t know that from one press conference.”

“No, they can’t. And you don’t have to conform to anything they say,” Pepper told her seriously. “You _do_ have to go to sleep, though.”

“Fine,” the teenager handed over the magazine unprompted. “I was gonna recycle it anyway. It’s pretty sh— _sugar_ writing.”

Pepper kissed her daughter on the forehead and headed for the door after she was sure that Gwen was under the covers and had no intentions of climbing back out of bed. “FRIDAY, Bedtime Protocol in here, please.”

The lights went out and the nightlight came on.

“Mom,” a small voice called to her from in the room.

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“I miss Daddy.”

Pepper’s heart broke a little at that. “I miss him too, Gwen. He’ll be home soon.”

The next day wasn’t as bad as it could have been; the children were cooperative—it made Pepper wonder whether they were being especially good because Tony wasn’t there to back her up—even Morgan didn’t fuss too much about her shoes. Gwen was wearing wraparounds and what looked like one of Tony’s old MIT hoodies with leggings, she wasn’t happy—although Pepper couldn’t blame her with only four hours of sleep she wasn’t particularly pleased either—but she was doing her best.

“Dad gets home tomorrow, right?” Peter asked as Happy pulled the SUV up to the high school.

“Yep, we can do a movie night even if it’s a weeknight as a treat,” Pepper told him, ignoring Happy’s smirk.

“That’s awesome!” Pete exclaimed as Morgan let out a celebratory shout.

Gwen winced. “Inside voices guys, inside voices.”

“You sound like Daddy when he has a migraine,” Morgan observed.

Harley looked up from his tablet at that. “ _Do_ you have a migraine?”

“No, of course not,” Gwen shot back quickly and turned towards Pepper. “I’m fine Mom. Let’s go, Morg still has to get to school.”

Pepper frowned. “Gwendolyn.”

“Mother?” her teenaged daughter asked mirroring her tone.

In spite of herself, she smiled. “You’ll call me if it gets worse?”

“Yeah, I will. It’s probably fine though, I should’ve slept more.”

“Yes you should have,” Pepper agreed. “Okay have a good day you two!”

Dropping Morgan off was easy; her youngest loved school even if she was apprehensive about going—she liked her friends and her teachers were extremely accommodating when it came to her sensory overload or general need to decompress before changing activities.

“Bye Uncle Happy! Bye Bubba! Bye Mommy! I love you,” Morgan said as she hopped out of the SUV and ran towards a group of children on the playground.

“She’s so big already,” Happy muttered as he put the car in reverse and pulled back out onto the street.

Pepper nodded; she knew that technically the teenagers had never actually _her_ babies, but in a way it felt like her last baby was growing up just a little too quickly. “Harley, you’re not allowed to get any older!”

Her eldest son laughed. “Mom, you sound like Tony. I’m going to college, you know.”

Happy shook his head. “Somehow you ended up with four kids that are exactly like him, Boss Lady.”

“Don’t I know it, Happy. Don’t I know it.”

Pepper was still taking Harley to work with her on most days so this morning wasn’t any different; they had a few meetings, then lunch, another one with marketing, and then they would pick up his younger siblings from school and everyone would try to make their opinion about supper heard. A classic day without Tony.

Their first few meetings had gone smoothly; Harley was a quick study, he sat through meetings far more attentively than Tony ever could, and Pepper was fiercely proud of him, although she made sure to remind him that Tony was _capable_ of running the company he just didn’t like to—according to the parenting books, it wouldn’t do to have the children feel as though their parents’ relationship was unequal.

“Mrs. Stark, I understand your concerns, however I really think you haven’t fully understood—” an annoyingly insistent man from a bioweapons thinktank that reminded her too much of Killian was saying.

She and Harley _were_ on their way to lunch when he’d ambushed them after being sent out of her office an hour earlier.

“No, Mr. Webber, was it? I think Mrs. Stark understands perfectly fine, she _is_ the brains of the operation here at SI after all,” Harley cut in—he was being polite, but Pepper could tell that her son was miffed. “Are you implying that the woman you’re seeking an investment from is incapable of predicting the potential pitfalls of your—might I say half-baked at best—concept for genetic engineering?”

The man—who she was pretty sure was actually Mr. Watson, but she knew that _Harley_ knew that—paled and mumbled some sort of apology before turning on his heels.

“Harley,” Pepper chastised half-heartedly.

“I know Mom,” because she was always mom to him now. “I didn’t have to do that, you can take care of yourself, I _know_. It’s just guys like that get under my skin and he was being _really_ rude.”

She could have told him that he didn’t need to worry about her, or that they could have just called security, but Pepper knew deep in her heart that her son was doing what he had always done; look out for his mother. And, in spite of how unnecessary it was, the gesture warmed her heart.

“Actually, I was going to say thank you,” she grinned.

Harley blinked for a moment and then sketched a bow and offered her his arm. “You’re most welcome, shall we go to lunch now?”

He seemed to lift a few inches off the ground when she laughed and took his proffered arm.

Harley was a character and Pepper was more than excited to teach him the tricks of the trade, she couldn’t lie to herself when she thought of how nice it was to have at least one child take after her.

 

An hour after lunch, just before the important meeting about the newest StarkTablet release announcement happening in a few weeks, Pepper got a call.

“Mrs. Stark, this is Jean Stevenson from Midtown Science and Technology. I’m afraid we need you to come in to discuss Peter and Gwen,” a woman said over the phone. “It’s rather urgent.”

“Yes, of course, I’ll be right there.” _Shit._

Harley was looking at her worriedly. “Mom is everything okay?”

“Yes,” she nodded, but it wasn’t because a member of the family needed to be in that meeting as a representative and—“Harley, sweetie, you need to go to the meeting in twenty minutes.”

“I know, Mom, that’s why I’m here,” her son agreed.

Pepper shook her head. “I can’t be there with you, I need to go get Gwen and Peter from school. You’re going to be fine, it’s just a marketing meeting, go in and approve what you like, nix what you don’t.”

“What? Mom, no,” the panic in Harley’s eyes was evident. “I can’t go in there without you!”

“Harley a member of the family needs to be there because we have the controlling shares of the company. It’s a simple marketing meeting, even your father could do it without me.”

“Mom, my dad is Tony Stark. He goes into meetings and does _Tony Stark things_!”

“Harley, you’re going to be fine; you’ve been to almost every meeting with me since you came to live with us, that’s twice as many meetings as Tony as ever been to in his life. It’ll be fine, I have to go now. You’re in charge of the company until I get back,” she really did feel bad, but there wasn’t anything to be done and she had faith in Harley, he was a bright boy. “Happy! Jennifer get in here!”

“Yes, Mrs. Boss?” Happy entered her office, his eyebrows bunched together, she must have sounded a little unhinged.

“Yes, Mrs. Stark?” her intern followed Happy into the room.

Pepper took a calming breath. “Everything is fine. Happy, you’re Harley’s bodyguard for the rest of the day. Jennifer, you’re his intern. I have to go to Midtown for something and won’t be back in time for the meeting with marketing. Harley is in charge.”

“Mom—”

She gave him a quick hug and grabbed her jacket and a set of keys for the spare car they kept at the offices. “You’ll be fine. I love you!”

 

Harley was _not_ fine.

Happy stared as him incredulously. “You’re in charge?”

“Apparently,” he swallowed, he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do, but one course of action seemed better than the others. “Karen, call Tony.”

Tony picked up after two rings. “Hey Harls, are you okay? Is your mom okay?”

“Everyone’s okay, Tony,” Harley said quickly. “It’s just—Peter and Gwen needed Mom to go get them because of something that happened at school.”

“I’m sure you didn’t call me to rat out your brother and sister for getting up to something questionably legal at school,” he sounded amused.

“Oh no,” why was it so hard to just say it? “No, Mom left me in charge.”

“Of Morgan? You’ve watched Morgan before, Harley. Is she sick? Or crying? Crap. Is she having a meltdown? Wait—isn’t it like one in the afternoon there? Why is Morgan at home?”

 _Crap._ “No, no, no! I’m not in charge of Morgan she’s still at school.”

“What’s going on, buddy?” Tony sounded concerned now.

“Mom left to get Peter and Gwen, and I’m still at the offices. Dad help, Mom left me in charge of _the company_ —and I have a meeting with marketing in fifteen minutes,” he was so scared he didn’t even register that he’d called Tony dad until the man started laughing. “This is serious!”

“Oh no, Harls, I know it’s serious,” he was getting himself back under control. “Okay, you have a meeting for that tablet launch or something, right?”

“Y-yeah, but I’ve never been to a meeting _by my self_ before!”

“Okay here’s what you’re going to do, go into my office and grab the Rolex that’s in the top left-hand drawer, and put the tinted glasses on, also put me on video call so I can help you.”

It took a few minutes for them to sort out his appearance—including restyling his hair for some reason—because apparently that was the most important thing about him going to a meeting alone.

Harley must still have looked dubious because Tony explained. “You’re going in there with all the knowledge you have, Harls, it’s too late to learn anything new for the meeting at this point. Instead, you’re going to do a good job of imitating Pepper, you’ve seen her in action, I know you can do this.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah I’m sure.”

“So what’s up with the watch and the glasses then?” it still didn’t make sense why he swapped his StarkWatch out for a Rolex.

“The glasses and the watch make you look like old money, bud,” Tony said carefully. “They actually confirm you’re a Stark; that watch belonged to _my_ dad. You’re gonna go in there and act like Pepper while looking as much like me as possible.”

“Because whatever I don’t know will be made up for with boyish charm?” he grinned a little.

“Exactly!” Tony actually looked like a proud dad and that was bolstered by what he said next. “Okay I need to get back in there before Steve caves and let’s Buck throw someone through a wall—honestly, I’m not entirely sure I’m gonna stop the guy if it’s Ross. I’m proud of you, Harls, you’re gonna do great, bambino!”

Harley was still staring at the phone after his dad ended the call.

“Mr. Stark,” Jennifer said.

“That’s you, Boss Kid,” Happy nudged him.

He blinked. “Yeah, right. Stark that’s me. Yeah?”

“We need to get going, the meeting starts in three minutes.”

“Okay, yeah, let’s go,” Harley caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror of Tony’s office before he left; he looked pretty different with his hair done like Tony’s and the glasses—good different…like Tony different.

 

Pepper felt like she was in over her head. Gwen had been ill that morning, but the girl had insisted that she would call if she felt worse, and Peter had seemed fine although perhaps more agitated than usual now that Pepper thought about it.

“FRIDAY, can you give me any information on Gwen and Peter well-being?” she asked the AI as she pulled into the High School’s parking lot.

“Gwen appears to be suffering from a mild headache and Peter had some sort of panic attack about forty minutes ago.”

 _Shit_. “Thanks.”

Jean Stevenson was waiting for her when she arrived; the woman led Pepper into a room with uncomfortable looking chairs and bland walls, Gwen was sitting with her brother’s head in her lap and when they entered Pepper saw the defensiveness rise in her daughter’s posture.

“We haven’t been able to send Ms. Stark back to her classes since her brother had his episode,” the secretary said; she seemed frustrated. “In fact, no one has been allowed to touch the boy since he started panicking.”

“Because you would have made it worse,” Gwen glared openly at the woman.

Pepper sighed. “Thank you Ms. Stevenson, I’ll take it from here. I’ll need to speak with Principal Morita afterwards, I imagine?”

The secretary nodded. “Yes, I’ll let him know you’ve arrived.”

“Thank you.”

Pepper waited until the woman was out of the room before approaching the children; Gwen had relaxed once the door closed and Pete seemed to be contemplating sitting up, his eyes were open and he was looking at her with some apprehension.

“No one’s in trouble,” she reassured them as she pulled a chair up. “Why don’t you tell me what happened?”

Gwen smiled a little. “Petey wasn’t feeling well today, and something—I don’t know what—set him off so I tried to help, but it was too late and getting him to calm down took a long time. The teachers at lunch noticed and they started swarming us, making it worse…Ned and MJ are worried, but we couldn’t all stay.”

“Okay,” Pepper nodded. “You did good, you took care of your brother; I’m proud of you, Gwen.”

The girl grinned. “Thanks, Mom.”

“Peter, do you want to tell me what set off a panic attack today?”

Her son shook his head and shrugged his shoulder.

“Do you want to go home, sweetie?” she tried instead.

Peter seemed to contemplate her for a moment before nodding.

“Okay, I’m going to go talk with Mr. Morita and straighten things out, then we can all go home,” Pepper smiled encouragingly.

“Um, Mom,” Gwen said uncertainly. “Is it okay if I stay today? We have decathlon practice and…”

She nodded, “Of course. How’s your head?”

“Not too bad,” her daughter answered honestly, which Pepper considered a win. “I’ll call you if it’s worse.”

“Okay, Happy will pick you up, sounds good?”

“Yeah, Petey are you gonna be okay? I probably really _should_ go back to class,” Gwen didn’t sound thrilled about leaving her brother _or_ going back to class, but she seemed resigned to needing to be responsible.

 _They’re really taking Tony’s request for them to be good to heart,_ Pepper mused as she watched her son nod and sit up.

“See you in a bit, Petey,” Gwen hugged her brother and stood up.

“I’ll be right back, sweetheart,” she promised as she pressed a kiss to each of their foreheads before going to track down the principal.

Mr. Morita was accommodating and understanding when Pepper explained that Peter had been through a lot in his young life and undoubtedly had a generalized anxiety disorder, which would occasionally affect his schooling. The man had apparently been far more concerned about Gwen’s defensive attitude that had prevented staff from assisting. It had taken some doing to explain that the twins were close and that Gwen had simply been trying to keep her brother from getting further over-stimulated.

In the end, Pepper had been able to check Peter out of school and had promised to talk to her daughter about accepting help from school staff. Peter was still mostly non-verbal when they entered the car, but he had managed a “thank you, mom” when she’d retrieved him from the terrible waiting room.

“You’re going to be okay, Petey,” she told him as they pulled onto the road. “Panic attacks are really hard, huh? I know they make Tony really tired afterwards.”

Her son was silent for another few minutes, but then very quietly he said. “I’m sorry.”

Pepper nearly pulled over at that, but instead she engaged the auto-driving feature and reached a hand out towards the boy. “Peter, you never have to be sorry for struggling with anything, okay? Coming to get you and taking care of you isn’t a hardship for me.”

The boy still looked a little unsure, but he nodded.

“Now, I know panic attacks are tough, but do you want to stop and grab some drive-thru or just head straight home?”

“Home please.”

“Okay, Peter I do need you to talk to me, alright? We need to know what happened,” Pepper sighed, she knew her son wasn’t in the mood to talk, but the fact that he had had a panic attack was serious and she needed to know how soon she needed to move his therapy appointment up to.

“Later?” the hope in his voice was enough to have her drop it for a little while.

“Later.”

 

It took a little convincing to get Peter to eat something once they got back to the penthouse, but he _did_ have pizza pockets and had gone up to change into pajamas while Pepper called Happy to see how things were going.

“He’s doing great,” Happy said reassuringly. “Kid’s totally at the top of his game and the meeting seems to be going well.”

“Okay, that’s good,” she sighed. “I really owe him for today, I feel so bad leaving him like that.”

“Nah,” her friend laughed. “Once he got over the initial panic, he was totally fine. What happened with the other kids?”

“Peter had a panic attack during lunch,” Pepper said quietly as she kept an on the upstairs landing. “He’s still really quiet about it, I don’t know what set him off.”

“Huh, you’ve _really_ got four different versions of Tony,” Happy mused. “I’m gonna let you go, though, Pepper. Kid looks like he’s about to rip into one of the marketing guys and I wanna see that.”

“Happy!”

“Bye!” the phone went dead.

 _Great_.

Pepper made her way upstairs and knocked on Peter’s door. “Peter?”

“You can come in,” her son called, his voice was steadier now.

Pete was lying on the bottom bunk of his bed huddled into a cocoon of blankets, he looked pretty tired, but his eyes were fixed on her as she came to sit next to him.

“Wanna tell me what happened?” she tried.

“I—” the boy took a deep breath and looked away. “I woke up worried about Dad, you know he’s far away and stuff. And we don’t really know where he is or if anything is wrong, and I guess I was just nervous. Then we were in the cafeteria and—I don’t know, it was just suddenly really loud? What if something happens to him Mom? What if he doesn’t come home?”

It hadn’t really occurred to her, nor to Tony she imagined, that the kids would be anxious about _them_ and their whereabouts and safety. “Oh Pete, it’s okay to be worried about the people you love. But, you need to tell us, okay? We can’t help if we don’t know it makes you nervous.”

“Okay,” her son sighed. “But—”

Pepper shook her head. “No buts about it. And, just so we’re clear, Petey-pie; Daddy does what he can to stay safe because he knows we’re waiting for him to come home.”

“Mom,” Peter wrinkled his nose. “I’m not a _baby_.”

“You’re _my_ baby,” it slipped out before she could stop herself.

The teenager froze for a second before smiling a little. “Okay.”

“Plus, Tony’s track record is pretty good; he’s always come home,” it was the same thought that helped her get to sleep at night. “Do you want to call him?”

“Can we?” the hope in her son’s eyes made Pepper smile.

“Sure, I don’t know if he’ll answer, but we can try.”

So they did and, as it turned out, Tony answered after the third ring. “Pep? Everything okay, honey? Harley said something about the twins—”

“Everything is fine,” she reassured him quickly and gave a sideways look at Peter. “Pete got a little anxious at school, but we’re all okay. He just wanted to call you to say hi.”

“Oh,” she could tell that Tony was caught off guard by that. “Hey, kiddo, how’re you holding up Spider-boy?”

“Hey Dad,” Peter answered sleepily. “I’m okay. I—uh—missed you.”

“Yeah? I miss you too, buddy. We’re in the middle of having it out with foreign leaders right now and I’d much rather be arguing about curfews with you.”

Pepper felt Peter wince; the argument between them that had led to the older kids having later curfews and Peter being grounded for the first time had been monumental—she definitely never wanted to go through that again.

“That bad?” their son asked amusedly.

“Yep,” Tony popped the p at the end of the word. “I gotta get back in there, but I love you, okay kiddo?”

“I love you too, Dad,” Peter answered easily, his eyelids looked heavy.

“Bye Tony, I love you,” Pepper said to her husband.

“Love you too, Pep. I’ll call you soon.”

In the end, Pepper ended up taking a nap with Peter curled into her side all cocooned in blankets. With only four hours of sleep under her belt, she wasn’t terribly surprised she passed out; the sleepless night thing was mostly a Tony feature, he attended most of the nightmares and midnight calls because he just naturally survived on less sleep than the average person.

“Mommy!” Morgan’s excited voice pulled her from her slumber just before the five year old catapulted herself onto both her and Peter.

“Ooomph! Morg, hi,” the boy said as he sat up sleepily. “How was school, Baby sis?”

The little girl chattered away animatedly about what had happened throughout her day, while Pepper stood up and stretched.

“FRIDAY, what time is it?”

“It is 4:17pm.”

“Thanks,” _time to start the debate over supper if we want to have something prepared by six._

Two and a half hours later, homework had been done, supper had miraculously been had, and all four kids were sitting in the couch playing videogames. Pepper had tried to get them to do _anything_ else, but ultimately the pleading eyes had won out along with the logic that it always took so long to decide which boardgame to play that they wouldn’t have any fun.

“Mommy,” Morgan asked after she had gotten bored of beating her siblings and had opted to cuddled Pepper instead. “Can we do storytime in _your_ bed tonight?”

The older kids were all already in their pajamas and they stopped what they were doing to look at her eagerly.

 _They definitely planned this_. “Sure, why not?”

And that was how Pepper ended up with Morgan in her lap, Peter on her left, Gwen on her right and Harley leaning against Gwen with an arm around his sister’s shoulder. It was nine o’clock and three _Mommy-just-one-more-chapter_ ’s later Morgan was out like a light, Peter was dosing and Harley looked like he wasn’t going to make it down the hall.

“You planned this, didn’t you?” Pepper glanced down at Gwen who was rubbing her eyes tiredly.

“What, no,” Harley responded sinking deeper into the blankets and pillows, and rolling over. “Night, Mom.”

Gwen snorted. “I mean, the only way you’re able to find me in the garage is because _you’re_ not sleeping well either.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“Yes, we planned it. We love you too, you know? And you’re being really great helping us all deal with missing Daddy, we didn’t want you to think that we don’t appreciate you,” there was a guilty look on her daughter’s face that Pepper would have done anything to banish.

“Sweetie—”

“No, I know,” Gwen waved her off. “It just makes _us_ feel better, okay?”

Pepper nodded and let herself fall back onto the pillows.

Morgan shifted and she opened her eyes to find Gwen gently shifting the littlest Stark over to Peter who somehow had woken up enough to make space for his sister.

“You can’t sleep sitting up, Mom,” Gwen rolled her eyes in a way that was _all_ _Tony_ and Pepper knew they were in trouble in the future, but they were all okay _right now_ and that was enough.

“I have the best kids,” Pepper told her twins softly as she sank into the bed surrounded by her children—the children that her husband had blessed her with.

 

The next time Pepper woke up it was still dark, but Gwen was sitting up and Harley was grumbling about something—probably his sister—quietly.

“Shut up,” Gwen muttered at her brother.

“Gwen,” Pepper said reproachfully, it took all of her energy to do so; it was ridiculous-o’clock, she was sure.

The girl shook her head. “Shhhh! _Listen!_ ”

Peter was waking up now and his shifting was waking Morgan, which was _not_ what Pepper wanted to deal with at—she glanced at the clock on the bedside—three in the morning.

She was right about to shush all the kids back to sleep when she heard it too, it was so faint she couldn’t be sure she wasn’t imagining it, but Gwen was already out of bed and Peter was not far behind her with Morgan—now definitely awake in his arms.

“ _Daddy!_ ” Gwen was yelling at she ran out of the room.

Harley groaned and sat up. “He’s home?”

Pepper laughed. “Apparently.”

“Cool,” Harley looked like he was about to lay back down and greet his father in the morning when he thought better of it. “We better go make sure he’s okay.”

Tony, it would seem, was just fine. He was barely off the plane when Pepper and Harley reach the family room window that doubles as a door to the landing pad, but Gwen was already hugging him having run outside in her pajamas to get to him. Peter had Morgan wrapped in a throw from the couch and was making his way outside.

“Alright, how about we all go inside before someone catches cold,” Tony was trying to herd the kids back to the door, but Gwen wouldn’t let go. “Guinevere, we need to go inside now.”

Peter and Morgan reached him at that point and even though Tony was valiantly trying to get the kids to do what he was saying, he wrapped an arm around them as well.

“He’s never going to get them back inside,” Harley said sleepily as he stepped out onto the landing pad.

Pepper couldn’t be too upset as she watched her husband reach over and hug their eldest son as well. With four kids wrapped around him, Tony Stark was the opposite of who he was fifteen years ago; he was a father, a total softie, and he looked genuinely happy.

“Hi hon,” he grinned over the tops of the kids’ heads.

The smile that found its way onto her face met no resistance, Pepper couldn’t think of a better way to see her husband return early from a trip. “Hey yourself,” she said softly.

The kids took this as their cue to let go of their father, and Tony walked up towards her and picked her right off of her feet as he kissed her. Four days was much too long to be away. As badly as the children missed him, Pepper was sure that she’d managed to miss him more.

“I missed you,” he whispered softly against her lips as he rested his forehead against hers.

“I missed you more,” the words left her lips like they were a secret only they shared. “Not that it’s a competition or anything.”

She was dimly aware of the kids walking by them back into the penthouse. There was no chorus of disgust or complaints, instead they were quiet. Pepper got a few more moments with Tony before they decided that they needed to go inside; it was cold and the kids—Morgan at least—needed to be checked on.

Pepper snorted when they found all of the beds empty. “Of course they would.”

“What?” Tony’s eyebrows knitted together.

“C’mon, I’ll show you,” she laughed; sure enough, all four kids were cuddled into the giant bed in their room.

Peter was on one end, Harley on the other, Gwen and Morgan were back to back with space between them and their brothers.

“So much for getting to hold my wife tonight,” Tony didn’t sound remotely miffed as he climbs into bed between the twins.

Pepper rolled her eyes as she took up her spot between Morgan and Harley. “Only for tonight, I know you’re all awake.”

“Shhh,” Morgan whispered. “We’re sleeping, Mommy.”

Everyone was late the next morning, but Pepper couldn’t bring herself to care; it was the first night that there wasn’t a single nightmare in the Stark household and she was calling that an unequivocal win.

 

“You did great, Pep,” Tony grinned at her over their hastily acquired lunch.

She shook her head. “Weren’t you listening _at all_ , Tony? I sent Gwen to school with a migraine, Peter was anxious and I didn’t notice, Morgan hasn’t slept properly in four days, and Harley had to go to a marketing meeting by _himself!_ ”

“Gwen insisted she was fine, and she was, Pete hides his issues better than Nat does—and she’s a trained Russian spy—Maguna _never_ sleeps that isn’t just you, and Harls did _fine_ in that meeting. We have a date for the tablet launch and a really cool marketing campaign, everything worked out.”

Pepper rolled her eyes.

“Pep, you need to lower your standards when it comes to this kind of thing; that one parenting book said so. As long as the kids aren’t dead, we’re doing fine.”

“Two of them are superheroes, Tony. There’s a real possibility of death.”

Her husband frowned at that. “I really do need to go over their suit specs again.”

“I don’t think that’s the main focus here, honey.”

“Right, well, things could have been a lot worse and they weren’t so I’m calling it a success with flying colours,” Tony smiled reassuringly. “Why _are_ you so insecure about this? Usually, I’m the one with the issues—”

That got a laugh out of her in spite of herself. “ _Because_ , Tony, you’re a great dad and you’ve managed to acquire four genius children. I feel like I’m struggling to keep up sometimes.”

Her husband rested a hand on her arm and looked at her with his large, knowing, brown eyes that held so much concern and confidence at the same time Pepper felt a little silly for her worries. “Pep, you are the best mother. The kids and me? We’d be completely lost without you.”

She wanted to brush him off, to tell him that he would manage, but instead she smiled. “What’s your social security number?”

“Five,” Tony replied promptly.

“Yeah, you definitely need me.”

“Told you.”

“So aside from super secret accords meetings, what did you get up to with the team?”

“Not too much, they really like the new compound. Clint’s been out there once or twice, but he’s usually home with his kids—”

“Sounds like someone I know,” Pepper smirked; Tony had only been out to the compound once since it had been finished, the night he and Peter had had that huge argument.

Her husband smiled. “Yeah well, Wanda’s turning twenty in a few days according to Steve and she’s been pretty numb and depressed for the past few months so he thinks we should do something, but nothing too big.”

“What does Nat think?” as much as she trusted Steve and Tony, Natasha was very intuitive and, as far as she knew, the closest Avenger to Wanda.

“That it’s worth a shot, they’re both worrying pretty hard even if Tasha’s acting like she isn’t. Wanda didn’t come out to the meeting.”

“You can’t really blame her, Tony,” Pepper sighed. “She’s barely older than Harley.”

Tony nodded. “No, I know. I just wish we could help her. Think we can get away with throwing her a party?”

“Maybe,” she mused. “What if we just threw a party to celebrate the new compound and had birthday cake? That way she wouldn’t feel like everyone was there just for her; it’s probably a lot less overwhelming.”

“Huh, good call. I’ll run it by Steve and see what he thinks.”

“We could have the whole team and their families too, Wanda likes the Barton kids, right?”

“Yeah, Clint mentioned she was good with them. Speaking of kids, I thought we had one with us?”

“You’re right,” Pepper frowned, Harley had disappeared shortly before lunch. “FRI, where’s Harley?”

“Harley is on the seventh floor.”

“Well don’t hold out on us, dear, what’s our boy doing?”

“He appears to be discussing StarkPhone designs with the interns.”

“Huh,” Tony met her eyes. “Well, I guess it doesn’t hurt to have him implicated in the design process?”

Pepper shook her head, for all that her husband was a genius. “He’s making _friends_ , Tony. You know, having peer interaction?”

“Oh. _Oh._ Right, that’s a thing kids need. We should probably have Ted, Michelle, and who was that other girl that Gwen started talking about—Betty?—come over sometime.”

“You get all the kids’ names right, except Ned’s, every time.”

“Habit,” Tony grinned. “I know what our son’s best friend’s name is.”

 

That was how, after a somewhat spectacular chain of events, both she and Tony ended up sequestered in his lab two days later.

Pepper sighed looking up from her tablet. “We should go up and check what they want for supper, Tony.”

“There are seven children up there,” Tony said in not-so-mock horror. “I’m not leaving here until half of them are gone.”

“Four of them are yours,” she reasoned in amusement.

Her husband grinned. “You’re telling me that you _don’t_ want to stay hidden down here where we have a mini-fridge, an excellent couch and the possibility of turning the glass opaque? That you _want_ to go upstairs and deal with six teenagers and a five-year-old?”

“Tony,” she laughed as he came to sit beside her and nuzzled her neck. “The kids need to eat.”

“FRI, Babysitter Protocol; get the kids to decide what to eat, and make sure no one gets hurt. Inform them that we’re not to be disturbed down in the lab, we’re—” Tony paused for a second, “working.”

“Sure thing, Boss.”

Pepper snorted, but they _really_ hadn’t had that much time alone so she kissed him and murmured. “Tell me more about that opaque glass?”

“FRI,” he chocked she started unbuttoning his shirt and pushing him back onto the couch. “The—uh, the glass, dear.”

 

“You’re right, she’s crazy good!” Betty complained as Morgan won at Mario Kart again.

Peter smiled. “She’s a pro, it’s kind of terrifying given how small she is.”

Morgan stuck her tongue out at him.

“Iron Man’s daughter just beat me at Mario Kart,” Ned whispered. “What is my life?”

Gwen rolled her eyes and stole a chip from Harley. “Ned, Iron Man’s kids are your friends. I think you have bigger fish to fry than Morg beating you at videogames.”

“Hey! Get your own!” Harley batted her away. “You’re like a vulture!”

Gwen stuck her tongue out at him. “Petey always shares.”

“Only because you don’t give me a choice,” her other brother grumbled. “Morg pass the popcorn, please?”

“Fine,” the youngest Stark sighed dramatically. “I’m hungry.”

“The Iron Child is hungry,” Betty teased Ned in a mock whisper that had everyone cracking up.

MJ smirked looking up from her book. “So, where _are_ your parents?”

“Uh,” Harley glanced over Gwen’s head into the kitchen. “You know…”

Peter glanced up at the ceiling. “FRI, where are Mom and Dad?”

“Boss and Mrs. Boss are in the lab, they have asked not to be disturbed. However, I have been instructed to order you whatever you want for supper. Given that you had lunch four hours ago, I suggest you do so now, Peter,” the AI replied.

“Woah,” Ned’s eyes were as wide as saucers.

Betty looked impressed. “You have access to the AI that runs the house?”

“Yeah,” Harley replied. “FRI takes care of pretty much everything as long as we ask.”

“I want Chinese!” Morgan said to FRIDAY.

“Any opposed?” Gwen asked from where she was leaning on MJ.

“Nope,” the other girl shook her head. “You done with this page?”

“Yeah,” Gwen answered. “Hey FRI, triple our usual order, please.”

“Of course.”

“What are Mommy and Daddy doing?” Morgan wondered as Peter picked another game for them to play.

“Boss and Mrs. Boss have requested not to be disturbed because they are working,” FRIDAY replied, Peter wasn’t sure if he’d been mistaken but it sounded like the AI was amused.

“Wow, your parents work a lot,” Betty commented. “It’s Saturday afternoon.”

Gwen locked eyes with Peter and they both looked at Harley who looked a little awkward, but said. “Well, they do own a multibillion dollar company.”

“Are we supposed to tell them when supper gets here?” Peter tried.

“No, they have asked not to be disturbed,” the AI repeated.

Ned looked up at that. “They really don’t stop even for dinner? Do you guys see them, ever?”

 _Gross_ , Gwen mouthed covertly when her brothers looked at her again, MJ chuckled beside her.

“Uh, thanks FRI,” Harley said quickly. “Guess we have the house to ourselves for a while. And, yeah, they’re usually around a lot. They must be catching up on—stuff, you know because we’re busy.”

“Can we play Mario Party?” Morgan asked, oblivious to her siblings’ dilemma.

“Yeah, let’s do that,” Peter agreed hastily.

Tony and Pepper re-emerged from the lab a few hours later, after the teenagers (and five-year-old) had managed to eat the entire order of Chinese food and were in various stages of food coma.

“Hey Mom, Dad,” Peter called. “You guys missed supper.”

“Yeah, we were working,” Tony answered easily. “We figured you could take care of yourselves for a few hours.”

The teen nodded, seemingly satisfied.

“You guys have fun?” Pepper asked as she made her way to the kitchen to prepare smoothies, which were the one thing they didn’t seem to have stocked in the lab fridge.

“We really did, Mrs. Stark,” Ned answered as Betty sat up from where she’d been upside down on the couch.

“Just Pepper is fine, Ned,” Pepper told the boy.

“Good luck, Hon, I haven’t been able to get any of them to not call me Mr. Stark,” Tony grinned as he picked a mostly dosing Morgan up off of Harley who had retreated into a business book.

“Daddy,” the little girl smiled as her eyes opened. “You changed your shirt? Did you get grease on it again?”

“Sure did, Baby, you know how much of that is in the lab,” he answered as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Did you have fun with the big kids, Maguna?”

“Mhm,” she was so tired he wondered if they were going to be able to get her into a bath before she passed out.

He meant to ask Michelle, Ned, and Betty if they were ready to go home when he spotted Harley and Gwen looking at him with raised eyebrows as their eyes darted between him and Pepper; Peter, it seemed, was too tired to see through the lie.

 _You really gonna ask?_ Tony grinned at the kids.

Gwen shook her head and made a face before turning back to Michelle. “You still down to see that movie on Tuesday?”

“Yeah, but we should practice for the meet before,” the girl said as she looked up from her phone.

“ _Really_ MJ?” the other teenagers, minus Harley groaned.

“It’s next weekend, losers, we need to be ready. No slacking,” MJ shot back.

“Speaking of plans,” Pepper said as she stepped back into the living room. “We need to be up early tomorrow.”

“Pete’s asleep,” Ned observed. “I think we should probably go home before our parents start to worry.”

Harley poked his brother. “I’m not carrying him.”

“I can,” Gwen grinned as she sat all the way up.

Betty looked at her dubiously. “You _can_?”

“Sure, he’s a total beanpole,” the girl replied easily and proceeded to pull her brother up into a fireman’s carry.

“Wha—” Pete was quickly coming back to consciousness. “Gwen? No! Nope!”

His squirming somehow led to Gwen leaning too heavily on one corner of the coffee table and being thrown off balance resulting in both of the Spider-Kids landing on the ground.

Tony chuckled. “Okay, Stark kids get ready to bed, other kids we’ll call Happy to drive you home.”

“I’m pretty sure we gave Happy the day off, Honey,” Pepper was frowning at the twins who were still quietly bickering over whose fault it was that they had fallen.

“Oh, right,” he hadn’t thought of that.

“I can drive them home,” Harley offered hopefully.

Tony raised an eyebrow; he knew that Harley could drive, in _theory_ , but he hadn’t actually let the kid drive anywhere other than the country roads by the Lake House a few times.

Pepper looked concerned. “I don’t know, Harley, New York City driving isn’t really for the faint of heart.”

“I was just offering,” the kid shrugged, but Tony saw him visibly deflate.

“Okay, how about you drive them home, but you take one of the self-driving cars in case it becomes a problem FRI can take over?” he compromised.

Harley’s grin made Tony’s heart soar; sometimes he _did_ do things right, but the kid cut an unsure glance at Pepper. “Is that okay?”

Pepper sighed more for effect than anything as she nodded. “Yes, that’s fine. Alright, everyone say your good byes! Twins upstairs, you two are worse than Morgan in the morning.”

“Hey,” their youngest lifted her head indignantly, Tony had up until that point assumed she had fallen asleep.

“Alright, bathtime for you, Little Mess!” he told Morgan as they headed up the stairs. “Harls, the silver Audi and nothing else, understood?”

“Yes, sir,” his eldest looked like he was about to float right off of the ground with excitement.

“The keys are—”

“I know where they are!”

 _Oh god,_ he’d just opened a whole new can of worms.

 

As it turned out, everyone survived the car ride as Peter and Gwen got text messages indicating that their friends had made it home and, of course, Harley came in shortly after dropping Ned off. He was ecstatic at having been able to be behind the wheel of a car.

“I didn’t realize how much I missed driving,” the boy said as he walked into the penthouse and sat on the couch by Pepper.

“Well, you can drive yourself and Mom to work sometimes, then,” Tony grinned.

That got his son’s attention. “I thought the Audi was _your_ car?”

Pepper laughed at that. “Harley, every car is Tony’s car if you let him; we can use the Audi for work.”

“The _silver_ one,” he smirked. “I can drive the R8 when I’m going into the office.”

His wife rolled her eyes. “Okay, everyone needs to go to bed now; we have Wanda’s birthday party tomorrow.”

It took a moment before Harley looked up at them and frowned. “Were you…were you _waiting up_ for me?”

Tony snorted but didn’t answer as he ruffled his son’s hair.

Pepper, he could see, just smiled. “Let’s go, I’m sure Gwen’s still awake reading _something_ or other.”

“FRI don’t warn her we’re coming,” he called up to the AI; their older daughter had a tendency to pretend to be asleep when they went to check on her and then get back up to keep reading when they were gone, the chances of her actually staying asleep were much higher if she was caught red-handed.

 

The two-hour drive to the compound the next day was the longest drive Tony had ever taken in his life. It wasn’t that he and Pepper hadn’t had all of the kids in the car at the same time before, but they’d never had all four kids in the same car at the same time for _two hours_.

“Dad, can I drive?” Harley asked again.

“No,” he replied through gritted teeth. “I’m driving, and we aren’t making a single other stop.”

“But what if I need to pee?” Peter piped up.

Pepper shook her head from where she sat in the passenger seat.

Gwen looked up. “But more importantly, what _I_ need to pee?”

“How’re you more valid than Pete, exactly?” Harley shot.

“Are we there yet?” Morgan asked for the fifteenth time since entering the car.

Tony pulled the car to the side of the road.

“I thought we weren’t stopping again,” Harley grumbled.

“Kids,” Pepper looked up from her tablet where she’d been finalizing details about the party that afternoon. “As amusing as it is to watch your father try not to disown all of you, you’ve officially reached the breaking point.”

Her speech gave him a moment to collect himself, “One more word out of anyone before we get there and you can all get out and _walk_ , understand?”

Peter opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it.

“I’m taking your continued silence as confirmation,” he pulled back onto the road.

True to their fear of his threat being genuine, none of the kids said anything for the next forty minutes as they drove to the compound. Somehow, Tony found the silence more unnerving than the constant complaining and chattering.

He glanced at Pepper who was grinning broadly at him.

“It’s too quiet,” he muttered. “FRI, put something good on.”

His wife snorted as pop music blasted from the speakers.

“Oh my god, okay the silence isn’t doing it for me, you can all talk again,” he glanced into the rear-view to see four very tense children eying him nervously.

“We’re sorry, Daddy,” Morgan said softly.

Her siblings uttered variations of the sentiment.

“It’s fine,” he sighed. “Just got a little overwhelming.”

“Driving with all of us seems stressful,” Harley commented.

Tony snorted. “Which is why you can’t drive with everyone in the car, buddy.”

“That makes sense,” his eldest nodded.

“We have another twenty minutes to go,” Pepper commented.

“That’s soon, right?” Morgan asked hopefully as she kicked her feet in her carseat.

Gwen laughed. “Sure is, Baby sis.”

“Can we listen to music?” Pete asked tentatively. “And sing along?”

“That sounds fun!” Maguna exclaimed excitedly.

“Yeah, let’s listen to that one song, what’s it called Harley?” Gwen looked at her brother expectantly.

“FRI, play the Periodic Table Song by ASAP Science,” Harley laughed.

“Oh god why,” Tony heard his wife mumble.

He spared a second to smile at her. “Because they’re my kids.”

The kids spent the next twenty minutes listening to the same song on repeat as they perfected their abilities to recite all of the elements as quickly as possible. Morgan gave up on the fast parts and made up for it by screaming the chorus extra loudly much to everyone’s amusement.

It was the sound of his kids belting out the lyrics of the periodic table song “This is the Periodic Table, Noble gas is stable, Halogens and Alkali react aggressively, each period will see new outer shells while electrons are added moving to the right!” that announced their arrival as they pulled up to the compound.

Even Pepper had gotten in on the song eventually and had the chorus down as well as the first verse by the time they all stepped out of the car.

“Tony,” Bruce was grinning from where he stood by the entrance. “Your kids know the periodic table song?”

“They’re _my_ kids Bruce,” he laughed coming up to give his science bro a hug.

Pepper rolled her eyes. “It would be cute if they hadn’t been singing it for the last half hour.”

“You loved it Mom,” Peter grinned as he gave Pepper a side hug and looked over at Bruce. “Hi, Dr. Banner.”

“Uncle Bruce,” Tony corrected. “You don’t want Morgan calling all of the avengers Mr., Ms., and Dr., do you?”

“Manners are good, Tony,” Harley reasoned as he helped his youngest sister out of the car.

Gwen snorted. “Hi, Uncle Bruce. I call you that because, as you know, it’s polite to refer to _family_ by their correct titles.”

Harley and Peter rolled their eyes so hard Tony thought they might fall out, meanwhile Pepper wasn’t doing a very good job at repressing her laughter. “Well, Bruce, it’s good to see you. Has anyone else arrived?”

“Is Nate here yet?” Morgan had been informed that the youngest Barton was her age and would undoubtedly be excited to play with her.

“Clint and his family haven’t arrived just yet, but Scott, Hope, and Cassie are here,” the man replied. “So are Sam, Bucky, Steve, Nat, and Wanda—although we’re having some trouble convincing her to come downstairs.”

“Hm,” Pepper nodded. “I’ll go see if I can help with anything.”

“Is anyone from really far away coming?” Morgan inquired.

“Shuri and T’Challa should be arriving at some point,” Tony told his daughter.

“No, like _really really_ far away, Daddy,” she insisted.

Bruce chuckled.

“You mean, from space?” Peter asked and looked at Tony hopefully.

“No,” Pepper saved him from having to deliver the bad news. “None of the off-world Avengers were available.”

“That sucks,” Gwen frowned. “I really wanted to meet Thor.”

“You haven’t already met Thor?” Peter asked curiously.

His sister shook her head. “No, I never got the chance.”

“He’s a good guy, and he likes Earth, I’m sure you’ll get a chance to meet him soon,” Bruce smiled encouragingly.

“Okay,” Tony clapped his hands and turned to his twins. “I think I promised you two that when we came to the compound I’d take you driving.”

Gwen raised an eyebrow, then shook her head. “I’m good for today.”

“What?” Harley looked at her as if she’d grown a second head. “You _love_ the cars.”

“Yeah,” she rolled her eyes, “but I don’t want to drive _today_.”

Peter shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other.

“But,” Gwen continued, “Petey totally does so you can take him, Dad. I’m gonna hang with Morg.”

“Yay!” the youngest Stark threw herself at her sister.

“Okay, guess it’s you and me, Kiddo,” Tony smiled at his son, he had a nagging feeling that Gwen was avoiding the driving lesson, but he didn’t say anything; today wasn’t the day to address that.

“Sweet!” Peter looked excited. “Are we taking the SUV or…?”

“Nah, we’ll take one of the convertibles, you can choose,” he told the kid before turning to Pepper. “Let me know if you need help, okay?”

She pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “We’ll be fine, go have fun.”

“Alright, see you later Brucy,” Tony said as he turned to his favorite science bro. “Maybe we can get some lab time in before the party’s over.”

“Sounds good, Tony,” the other man smiled, he was almost out of earshot when he heard Bruce say to Pepper. “Family life looks good on him.”

“Doesn’t it?” his wife agreed.

“Dad can we take the Maserati?” Peter yelled from somewhere near the garage.

“Sure can, Petey!” Bruce might have been right; Family life sure _felt_ good.

His son drove like a maniac.

Sure, so did Tony, but that wasn’t the point. Peter _loved_ playing with the features in the car and going fast was definitely a superhero thing; Tony didn’t think any of the Avengers—even Steve—drove at anything less than twenty above the speed limit. Still, he was glad they stayed on the compound grounds because he didn’t know how he felt about Pete driving on actual roads with real people.

“I _can_ drive like a normal person,” his son said when Tony couldn’t keep his facial expressions under control any longer. “Watch.”

Sure enough, the kid slowed down and took a turn at a reasonable speed, besides they hadn’t hit anything or even swerved slightly the whole time he’d been behind the wheel.

“Just going fast for fun?” he grinned.

“Yup,” Pete popped the P at the end of the word and grinned. “It’s fun driving your cars because I know you just have to yell break and it’ll just stop.”

Tony laughed, but didn’t deny it. “Who taught you to drive this fast anyway?”

“You,” Tony didn’t even have to look up to see the eye roll.

They spent another twenty minutes driving around, Tony had eventually put Queen on the radio and they were singing along to Bohemian Rhapsody and going at some ridiculous speed when they rounded a corner and noticed a game of soccer on the field.

“Looks like the Bartons arrived,” Tony noticed.

“Cool, let’s go say hi!” Pete sped up until they were near the game and parked the car with ease, the kid was out of the car before Tony had even finished unbuckling.

“Pete!” he called after his son. “The keys kid!”

“Oh right!” they came flying at Tony in an arc. “Thanks for the lesson, Dad!”

Pepper was standing off to the side with her hands on her hips as he caught the flying keys. “You’re supposed to be teaching him to drive responsibly.”

“He can already drive responsibly,” he smirked. “We were just having some fun. Four kids and it feels like I never have enough time with any of them.”

His wife laughed. “You spend _all_ your time with them, I’m sure they know you love them.”

Tony couldn’t help himself as he gathered his beautiful wife up in his arms. “You’re wonderful, you know? Do I tell you that enough? Feels like I don’t.”

“I do know,” Pepper reached up and kissed him quickly. “C’mon let’s go see what they’re up to.”

“I thought the party was inside because it’s getting cold,” he mused.

“It is,” she confirmed, “but the kids wanted to play soccer outside.”

They watched the teenagers play the most bastardized version of girls-versus-boys soccer Tony had ever seen in his life; Gwen tackled Peter for the ball allowing Morgan to steal it from him, but she was thwarted by Nate who passed it to Harley who was somehow managed to miss passing it to Cooper and Lila stole the ball getting it to Cassie who scored. Tony was _very_ sure they’d broken several rules of the actual sport given that most of the kids were on the ground by the time the girls celebrated their goal.

“Wait, where’d the other kid come from?” Scott was asking Clint as Tony and Pepper joined the group of adults standing by the edge of the field.

Rhodey, Steve, Scott, Hope, Clint, and Laura were watching over the kids while they played, although none of them seemed particularly interested in playing referee.

“One of Stark’s,” Clint answered laughing.

Scott looked over at him then. “How many do you have? Every time I ask about a kid, apparently they’re yours!”

Hope slapped him on the arm, but raised an eyebrow at Pepper.

Rhodey snorted. “Tony has a small army of kids.”

“I don’t!” he insisted. “We only have four kids.”

“Only?” Laura looked at him curiously, but there was humour in her eyes.

Pepper rolled her eyes. “We ran out of bedrooms in the penthouse.”

“We don’t need an upstairs office,” Tony offered teasingly.

“Okay, so you’ve got four of them?” Scott asked, apparently invested in sorting things out.

“Yeah,” Tony nodded. “Harley’s the eldest—nineteen, he’s heading to MIT in January—Pete and Gwen are fifteen; they’re both at a STEM school in New York, and Morgan’s the baby she’s at a private elementary school in the city too.”

“Okay, but when we visited you for the Time Heist a few months back you only had your youngest—” Scott’s eyes widened. “Shit! Steve said you’d lost _a kid_ in the Decimation, he didn’t say you’d lost _three_. That…Cassie’s my whole world, I can’t—I don’t know how you guys did it.”

Pepper reached out and put a reassuring hand on Scott’s arm. “It’s a little more complicated than that.”

“Oh my god,” Scott was still staring at them in horror and turned to Clint. “Five years…”

“Scott, man, breathe,” Rhodey chimed in.

Steve looked at a loss, even Hope seemed unsure of how to deal with the realization that Tony had lost _three_ children in the Decimation.

“Okay, everybody take a breath,” Tony said once he’d regained a bit of control. “We technically only lost Pete in the Decimation. And that sucked enough, thanks. Harley was a protégé of mine, but he had family out in Tennessee and when he disappeared that was rough, but not actually on my radar at the time.”

“To be fair, none of us had much of a radar at that point,” Clint pointed out as he glanced down at his tattoos, Laura rested a hand on her husband’s arm.

“Right,” he nodded. “Gwen’s actually from another reality, when Cap went to sort out the stones he made a couple of realities disappear and Gwen’s version of me sent her to our reality to keep her alive. It’s sort of complicated. Anyway, point is; _technically_ Steve wasn’t wrong, I did only lose one kid in the Decimation, but when we restored everything I sort of gained two extra as well as having had a daughter during the five years in which we were childless.”

“Oh okay,” Scott seemed a little relieved. “Still, I’m glad you’ve got all your kids back.”

Pepper smiled at the man. “We are too.”

“MOM!” a scream came from the field.

Hope, Laura, and Pepper all turned towards the field so fast Tony nearly had whiplash for them, in spite of the fact that he too was scanning all of the children worriedly from afar.

“We’re fine!” came another yell, this time from Lila.

“That didn’t sound fine,” Laura hollered back. “Which Mom did you guys want?”

“Pepper!” Gwen answered helpfully.

Tony smirked. “Well, it seems you’re being paged, dear.”

His wife snorted.

 

Pepper jogged over to where the kids had been playing, all of them seemed fine and no one was crying; Morgan and Nathaniel were kicking the ball back and forth between them, while Harley and Cooper stood around talking and watching them. Lila and Cassie were sitting on the grass with Gwen and Peter—and that was when she saw the problem.

“We’re stuck,” her son said as he raised his right hand, which was somehow attached to Gwen’s left hand.

Gwen looked partially miffed, but mostly baffled as far as Pepper could tell. “We went for a high five and couldn’t separate.”

“It’s actually really cool,” Cassie commented.

Peter sent the girl a baleful look. “It’s _really not_.”

Lila had a piece of paper that she had been trying to wedge between their hands with no luck. “This isn’t working guys.”

“And you called me and not your father because?” Pepper raised an eyebrow.

“Well, Dad would’ve laughed,” Peter reasoned.

Gwen looked exasperated. “Daddy probably also knows how to fix it, Pete. Even if it would be a painful and embarrassing experience to explain it to him.”

“I don’t think so,” her brother shook his head. “He’d probably just laugh then do whatever mom’s going to do right now.”

Her daughter looked up at her with hopeful eyes. “What _are_ you going to do now?”

She sat down next to Gwen and took another look at the teenagers’ conjoined hands. “Well, you two stick to things all the time, right? The walls, the videogame controllers, the ceiling, Morgan…”

“You can stick to other people?” Cassie’s eyes were wide.

Gwen gave her a flat stare.

“Oh, yeah, right,” the girl grinned.

“Yeah, so we can stick to stuff,” Peter agreed. “How does that help?”

“Well,” Pepper tried her best to channel her inner peace; obviously the kids had wanted her for a reason, “what do you do when you want to unstick from things?”

“Uh,” the twins locked eyes for a second before Peter said slowly. “Well _I_ relax.”

His sister nodded. “I stick to stuff when I’m freaked out or thinking about it. I’ve fallen off of things by accident if I get too relaxed or stop paying attention.”

“So you guys can’t fall asleep upside down?” Lila asked casually.

“Not really,” Peter shook his head. “It’s kind of complicated, like I _have_ dozed off on a ceiling before, but I think some part of me is still paying attention to the fact that I could fall.”

“Okay, so maybe we just need to relax and stop thinking about being stuck?” Gwen suggested.

“Sure,” her brother nodded.

It took them a few tries, but eventually with Pepper, Cassie, and Lila distracting them, the twins managed to unstick their hands.

“Well that was an adventure,” Pepper concluded as she stood up.

“It’s Harley’s fault,” Gwen grumbled; the girl had been having a bit of an attitude throughout the day and Pepper wasn’t entirely sure why, she and Tony would have to keep an eye on it.

Peter grinned. “He scared us while we were high-fiving and I think we sort of panic stuck together.”

“I still think it’s cool,” Cassie reiterated.

“Well, as fun as that was, the sun is setting and I’m pretty sure we all want supper. How does that sound?” Pepper said loud enough for the other four kids to hear her.

“Birthday cake!” Morgan sprang to life.

“Race you back inside!” Nathaniel said before he took off with the little girl right on his heels.

“I’ve got them,” Cooper reassured her and ran off after the two youngest children.

Pepper and the rest of the kids made their way at a slower pace back inside to the main room of the compound, which had been decorated with as much Avengers paraphernalia as Morgan’s birthday party. Many members of the team were enjoying the décor unironically. The twins, Cassie, and Lila had found Shuri and the five of them appeared to be getting on like a house on fire—Pepper was certain that if left too long to their own devices, there _would_ be fire.

“Alright we’re all here,” Tony grinned when they entered. “Alcohol is on the upper shelves by the bar for everyone _over the age of 21_ , no exceptions. Non-alcoholic stuff is over on the punch table near the food. There’s enough food for everyone, we had to place the order a week in advance to make sure they could feed an army. Everyone, have fun!”

Harley leaned over to Pepper as everyone dispersed for food and to chat, “Who’s that with Aunty Nat?”

“That’s Wanda,” she told him. “She’s about your age, but she’s been having a hard time lately so don’t take it too personally if she doesn’t say much, okay?”

Her son nodded. “Yeah okay.”

Pepper smiled and went over to join her husband.

 

A few hours later, Tony was considering rounding up his brood—good god, he had a _brood_ —to head out; everyone had school and work the next day and it was a long drive back to the city. He supposed they could stay over, but then they’d have to leave by four in the morning and that sounded like some special kind of hell he wasn’t putting himself nor his wife and children through.

“Being a family man looks good on you, Tony,” Steve said he poured himself another drink.

Tony smiled. “Is the alcohol working at all?”

“Nah,” his friend shook his head. “But it tastes alright so, you know.”

Tony spotted Nat over with Pepper, Hope and Laura; the four women were undoubtedly gossiping about all the crap they had to put up with from the men in their lives. “How’re things going with you and Tasha?”

“Pretty good,” Steve said casually. “Still worrying about Wanda, though.”

“How’d she take the art class suggestion?”

“About as well as she takes any other suggestion,” the man grimaced.

Tony nodded sympathetically. “Kids are tough, I don’t actually know how I’m surviving three teenagers right now. Probably Pepper.”

“Definitely Pepper,” Rhodey agreed teasingly; he’d walked up to the bar to get himself another drink.

“Well—” whatever Steve was going to say was cut off by a cry of shock from the punch table.

Looking over, Tony wasn’t entirely sure what had happened, but Harley was soaked through and two empty water pitchers were laying on the floor. About a two feet away from the kid, Wanda was glaring at Harley. It seemed to happen in slow motion, without missing a beat Harley took a step towards her, grabbed the massive punchbowl next to him and dumped the content over the girl’s head; ice and all.

Rhodey was frozen in shock beside him as Tony felt Steve take a step forward and went to follow him; he knew he could act on pure dad instinct, but he wasn’t entirely sure what to do when his adult son had just poured an entire bowl of punch over another—admittedly also adult—child’s head. Not to mention the other child was _Wanda_ and she was traumatized and had probably overreacted to something and used her powers; it wasn’t like they could really blame the girl for anything right now.

But by the time he and Steve had taken a single step each, both Harley and Wanda had started chuckling then seemed to dissolve into a fit of hysterical laughter that lasted long enough that they ended up on the ground leaning on each other.

“You should probably go deal with your kids,” Rhodey commented as Tony stood dumbfounded next to Steve.

The super soldier turned towards him. “You’re the one with three teenagers, what should we do?”

He shrugged. “No idea. There’s no protocol for your kid just threw a gallon of liquid at another kid.”

“That’s the first time she’s used her powers since the battle,” Steve observed.

“ _Did_ she use her powers?” Tony asked.

Steve nodded. “There’s no way she got that much water on him from standing that far away without them.”

“Huh,” well any progress was good progress, he supposed. Even if Harley was now soaking wet.

Pepper had managed to regain her senses faster than anyone else in the room. “You two need to change, the punch is going to get sticky, _and_ we need to head back soon.”

“Yeah, okay, Mom,” Harley was pulling himself back to his feet and reached out to help Wanda up.

“Uhg,” the brunette looked mildly disgusted as she unstuck locks of hair from her face. “My _hair_.”

Natasha had reached them at that point. “Either of you want to share with the class why you suddenly decided to douse each other and the carpet?”

Wanda looked guilty, but Harley grinned a winning smile at Nat and said. “Nope!”

“We’ll go change now,” Wanda added as she pulled on Harley’s hand that she hadn’t let go of. “I think your dad has some extra clothes here somewhere.”

“Cool, be right back!”

The two left before anyone could say anything.

Peter waited a full beat before asking, “What just happened?”

“Someone will tell you when you’re older,” Gwen smirked and turned back to Shuri.

That got Tony moving. “I’ll go check on them.”

“I’ll come with you,” Natasha added as she hurried alongside him towards the elevator.

Once inside, Tony asked, “FRI, where’d Harley and Wanda go?”

“To the living quarters, Boss. Harley is in your room right now, and Wanda went to her own.”

“Oh,” a feeling of relief washed over him while Nat chuckled beside him. “Hey she could’ve decided to kill him for offending her, _you don’t know_.”

Tasha continued to laugh at him as she said. “Take us up, FRI.”

He and Nat waited in the living room for the kids to come back out.

“You weren’t _actually_ concerned, were you?” she asked him after a minute, _she_ certainly didn’t look worried.

Tony shook his head. “Nah, Harley’s too much like Pepper; he respects boundaries that don’t even exist. He’s not reckless. Scared the shit outta me when he dumped the punch on her though, any idea what set that off?”

Nat shook her head. “Wanda hasn’t been responding to anything or anyone emotionally for weeks now, I’m surprised he said something that got her to react at all much less dump water all over him.”

“How’s playing house with Rogers going? I mean, aside from the depressed kid,” he didn’t mean to pry, he was just curious…okay, maybe he wanted to pry a little.

The redhead gave him a look, but relented with a soft smile. “Good, Tony, really good.”

“Nice to wake up to someone you know you can count on,” he sympathised; waking up next to Pepper every day was the best thing that had ever happened to him—the list of best things that had ever happened to him was actually quite substantial now.

A moment later, Harley walked out dressed in slightly too long jeans and one of Tony’s button downs. Somehow, the kid still managed to looked respectably indignant as he asked, “Did you two come up here to _check on us_? Oh my god!”

Tony snorted, but as much as he wanted to tease his kid about Wanda he knew it wasn’t a good move, instead he said, “Just wanted to make sure you didn’t somehow manage to antagonize the Scarlet Witch into putting you through a wall.”

“I’m just here to laugh at him for worrying,” Nat commented.

“Although,” Tony raised an eyebrow, “color us curious, what _did_ you do to have her dump a gallon of water on you?”

Harley shifted from foot to foot awkwardly, but right as he was about to answer Wanda came into view; she had changed into leggings and a red dress, but her makeup wasn’t done and her hair was wrapped in a large towel turban.

“I think I’m going to have to wash it _again_ to get all the sugar out,” she said accusingly as she spotted Harley.

“Hey you’re the one who started it,” he defended.

“What exactly caused that reaction?” Tony tried again.

Wanda looked over at him and Nat on the couch in surprise. “Oh. Well—”

“It’s just not that big of a deal, Tony,” Harley said quickly.

The girl nodded in agreement. “It’s fine. I overreacted.”

“I mean, I don’t know if I’d say _that_ ,” his son told Wanda. “It wasn’t the smartest thing I’ve ever said in my life.”

“I find it hard to believe you’ve ever said a smart thing in your life, Stark,” she laughed, and Tony could tell that somehow Harley had gotten through to Wanda; he was making her laugh and tease him, as if she were a normal young adult and not an incredibly traumatized young woman who had lost _far too many_ people in her life.

Nat raised an eyebrow at the two kids and didn’t say a word.

“Oh my god, _fine_ ,” Harley threw his hands up in the air. “We were talking about stuff and I commented about how she was being really lame at her own birthday party, okay?”

“Huh,” Tony could see how that would have set Wanda off; she _was_ a twin and she had lost her brother violently, which was why no one was _supposed_ to tell her that it was a birthday party. “I’m surprised you _only_ threw water at him.”

That got her to crack a smile. “Well, it’s not like he knew I lost Pietro. Besides, I’m not going to kill someone for pointing out the obvious.”

“It was still a shitty thing to say,” Harley told her. “And, I am sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Wanda smiled a little sadly, but met Harley’s eyes anyway. “I think my brother would have wanted me to be happy, you know?”

Tony watched as his son rested a hand on her shoulder and told her with the utmost certainty. “Yeah, I know what that feels like. Doesn’t mean you can’t be sad about it sometimes too, though. Just don’t let it—you know, rob you of your life.”

“Yeah, I’m working on it.”

FRIDAY, for all her wisdom and programming, interrupted them. “Boss, Mrs. Boss wants to ask if everything is alright up there.”

“Yeah, tell Pep that we’re on our way down, if she can get the ankle-biters into the car,” Tony answered and turned back to Harley. “We gotta go, bud. You’ve got a meeting with R&D tomorrow at 8:30.”

“You work at SI?” Wanda asked surprised.

“Sort of,” Harley scratched the back of his neck. “I mostly just follow my mom around.”

“That’s a lie if I ever heard one,” Nat smirked. “Tony was telling us about how you took care of the new tablet launch meeting.”

Harley blushed. “It’s not a big deal.”

“It’s a pretty big deal, buddy,” Tony cut in. “You’re an heir to Stark Industries.”

“Oh my god, Dad,” it always caught him by surprise when Harley referred to him as Dad instead of Tony.

Wanda smiled. “Sounds like you’re busy.”

“I guess, um hey if you want to hang out or whatever—doesn’t seem like there’s much around here, you should get FRI to call me or something,” Harley said carefully as he stepped towards the elevator.

“Sure.”

Tony waited until the doors closed before giving his son a look.

“Everyone needs friends, Tony,” his son said defensively. “She’s here all by herself with her over protective super family that obviously don’t know how to help. Wanda’s actually pretty normal, you know.”

“Guess I never really thought about it that way,” he shrugged. “You should invite her over, we can turn the upstairs office into a guest room so she can stay with us. You don’t actually have to go to work with your mom and me all the time.”

“Mhm,” his son nodded distractedly.

 

The ride back to the city was significantly less rowdy. Morgan passed out after five minutes, the twins were gone by the time they hit the high way proper, and even Harley fell asleep about twenty minutes in.

“How was Wanda?” Pepper asked quietly. “I can’t imagine having a whole bowl of punch turned over onto her head was pleasant.”

“Actually, it was a positive experience,” Tony said amusedly. “They became friends.”

“Friends?” she sounded surprised.

He nodded. “Yeah, our kid is something else; he saw someone who needed help—a good dose of normal, and he gave it to her. Steve and Nat have been worrying about her for weeks and it takes him, what? An hour? And she’s laughing at him and asking him questions about his life.”

“Sounds like our kid,” Tony doesn’t fail to notice the pride in her voice as she says it.

“Damn straight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that's a wrap for this chapter! Hopefully you enjoyed, please please let me know in the comments; they keep me going.


	13. The Best Mom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sickness, nightmares, and mother daughter bonding...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this comes as a surprise to no one: I have no idea when this fic is going to end because as long as I have ideas it'll just keep getting written.  
> Also, thank you all SO MUCH for your comments, every single one of you. I really love and appreciate them!  
> Quick shoutout to my beta-reader extraordinaire: athenaharmony

**Chapter Thirteen**

“Pep are you _sure_ you need to leave that early? I mean, you could just video-call in or…” Tony asked again as he sat on their bed watching his wife pick out her outfit for the next day.

“Honey,” Pepper turned to look at him, whatever she saw on his face changed her expression from exasperated to fond and sympathetic. “It’s just a few days, Tony. You’ll need to go into the office, but it’ll be fine. I’ll be back in time to tuck the kids into bed on Friday.”

“I just—” he cut himself off; it would be fine, he could do a few days without her, why was he worrying?

Pepper really was the most perfect woman in the whole universe as she put her blouse down and walked over to him. “You don’t like being away from me. I know.”

Tony leaned into her automatically as she stood in front of him, the feeling of her arms around him and her fingers running through his hair eased the tension momentarily. He had no doubt that it would be back, but she was here _now_ and he could take advantage of that.

“I love you,” he murmured as he pulled back to look up at her. “You’re so damn perfect, Pep.”

She laughed and his whole world became a better place at the sound. “You put me on a pedestal, Mr. Stark.”

“Are you implying that I exaggerate, Mrs. Stark?” Tony asked softly as he leaned up, his lips a mere breath away from hers.

Just as she leaned down to close the gap—“DADDY! Tell Petey that string theory is superior to loop quantum gravity!” _Gwen_.

Peter burst through the door with his sister hot on his heels. “No way, string theory is untestable and creates multiple parallel universes, which we _know_ don’t exist.”

Harley had somehow come up behind the twins with Morgan in his arms. “But loop quantum gravity doesn’t take actual gravity into account.”

“Gravity is important, Petey,” Morgan noted helpfully.

“Exactly! So—” Gwen paused as if just realizing they had barged into the room during a moment. “We should go now.”

“What why? Dad hasn’t said anything yet,” Pete protested clearly unaware of Tony’s predicament.

Pepper hadn’t moved so he was counting that as a win.

“We’re going now,” Harley grabbed Peter by the collar as Gwen grabbed the door to shut it behind them. “We’ll just wait until you’re not _busy_ next time.”

“They were busy?” Morgan’s voice floated down the hall just as their eldest daughter closed the door.

The amusement in Pepper’s eyes as she finally closed the gap made up for the interruption.

Two hours later they were settled into the couch with books and the four kids in various states of tired, although Peter’s cheeks were still very pink and Guinevere was studiously looking anywhere except at them. Harley was engaged in showing a decidedly clueless Morgan a Dr. Seuss book, he too didn’t seem particularly keen on engaging them in conversation.

Tony locked eyes with Pepper. _Oh my god._

 _You want to take the lead on this one or should I?_ She stifled a laugh.

He sighed, there was a good chance he’d be dealing with left over awkwardness from the older kids tomorrow if he didn’t handle it. _I got it_.

 _Good luck_ , Pepper mouthed covertly.

“So,” Tony clapped his hands causing the three teenagers to jump a foot in the air; their reactions were pretty hilarious, even he had to admit, “knocking is a practice we should definitely implement in this household.”

There was a beat of silence, then Gwen—apparently feeling particularly brave—nodded. “Yep, that sounds like a great idea. Good talk, Dad.”

Peter and Harley nodded vigorously as the latter said. “We’ll ask FRI if we need you.”

“And we definitely won’t be randomly opening doors to rooms or anything ever again, we definitely don’t want to interrupt or—or anything,” Pete added quickly. “A-and—”

“ _Good. Talk._ ” Gwen repeated emphatically.

“I still don’t understand what we interrupted,” Morgan piped up.

All three teens groaned, but Harley bravely said. “We just shouldn’t open Mom and Tony’s door without permission first, okay?”

“Yeah, I know _that_ ,” Maguna replied.

“Good,” their eldest daughter was clearly ready to change subject. “Now, can we _please_ read stories?”

Tony felt Pepper losing it beside to him before she actually gave in and burst out laughing so hard she doubled over, that in turn set him off, which set all the kids of as well—awkwardness crisis averted.

 

It didn’t matter that the kids had been prepared to wake up to a house without their mother, they were still all grumpy and uncooperative. Gwen and Peter didn’t actually get out of bed until 7AM, which Tony would have completely empathized with at any other point, but at that precise moment he’d been close to sending them to school in their pajamas without breakfast. Harley, thankfully, had at least woken up on time, but he had wandered around like a lost spirit until Tony had given him an actual list of things they needed to get done for the day. Great kid, but he was in dire need of the structure Pepper provided, which was fine when his wife was _actually_ here.

Then, just as they were all getting into the elevator Morgan said, “Daddy, I don’t feel good.” And promptly threw up.

 _That_ had been a thing. Tony had had to send Harley to drive the twins to school and then to SI to do what he could because there was no way he could leave the house with a sick kid. His eldest hadn’t been particularly happy about it, but the kid had risen to the challenge, and Gwen and Peter hadn’t complained—probably out of worry for their miserable sister now that Tony thought about it.

“Daddy, I’m cold,” Morgan shivered as he tucked her back into bed.

Tony frowned at that and got her an extra blanket from her closet. “FRI, raise the heat in here and check Maguna’s temperature, will you?”

“Boss, Morgan has a mid-to-low-grade fever of 101.2 degrees.”

“Shit. Okay, I’m gonna get you something for that,” he told his daughter as he tucked the third blanket around her. “I’ll be right back.”

“Okay, Daddy,” she looked miserable and her voice had started cracking just in the last twenty minutes.

 _Sick kid, okay Stark, you’re a dad. Be Dad._ He told himself as he went to the kitchen to locate the medicine for Morgan. They couldn’t keep her cough syrup and Tylenol in her ensuite as she was still considered a small child and those were supposed to be kept out of her reach, Tony felt that it was ridiculous given how smart she was, but Pepper had insisted and he had to admit that the risk wasn’t worth the convenience. Although it was close in moments like this.

Morgan was definitely sick, she took her medicine and, to Tony’s amazement, promptly rolled over and fell asleep. His youngest never fell asleep that easily unless she was a hair’s breadth away from keeling over.

“FRI, monitor her,” Tony said quietly as he left the room so as to not wake her. “If _anything_ changes, I want to know.”

“Yes, Boss.”

“And call Barton,” he added as an afterthought as he walked back to the kitchen, with Morgan asleep and the other kids at school and work, he might be able to actually sit down for his coffee and a bagel today.

“Hey Stark, bit early for a social call,” the archer’s voice filled the kitchen as Tony sat down.

“I’ve got a sick kid, was wondering what you’d suggest,” he admitted as he started to eat. “Morgan threw up this morning right before we got into the elevator.”

“Shit,” Clint said emphatically. “Fever too?”

“Yeah,” Tony sighed.

“Feed a cold, starve a fever is usually what we go by. But, I mean, feed your kid if she’s hungry. You give her medicine, already?”

“Yup,” he answered tiredly. “Just worried, I guess. Talking to another parent seemed like a good idea. Pepper’s out of town.”

“Well, here’s hoping it didn’t spread to the others,” Barton said with a tinge of worry in his voice. “When one of our kids goes down, usually the virus takes out everyone in the house for a few days.”

“Wait that’s a thing?” Tony looked up at the ceiling concerned.

Clint snorted. “Uh, yeah. When one kid gets sick, usually they all freaking do. It’s like they coordinate it.”

“Huh, well everyone else seemed okay,” he mused. “I’ll check in with them, though.”

“Try to sleep when the kid sleeps,” his friend advised sagely. “It doesn’t matter if you’re not tired, sleep anyway.”

“I’m a dad, Barton, I’m always tired.”

“Preaching to the choir, Stark.”

“Alright, I’ll let you get back. I’m going to go pass out on my couch and hope none of my other kids are sick.”

“Good plan, I think all the kids are at school now so I’m gonna go see if Laura wants anything.”

“Talk to you,” Tony said readying to hang up.

“Hey Tony,” Clint cut in quickly. “Don’t hesitate to call back, okay man? Sick kids by yourself is worse than an alien firefight.”

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.”

Tony did actually dose off, but he was woken up by FRIDAY informing him that Morgan was in distress. Thankfully, the little girl hadn’t thrown up again, but she had a headache and her fever hadn’t broken making it difficult because she kept complaining that her skin hurt—a little research revealed that she had a form of skin sensitivity due to her fever.

“Can you stay with me, Daddy?” Morgan pleaded.

“Absolutely, Maguna, do you want me to read to you?” he suggested reaching for one of her books.

“No,” his daughter shook her head. “Can I have cuddles and a Spider-Man story?”

Tony laughed as he settled into the bed so that Morgan could cuddle into his chest. “I think we might be able to work something out. So one time, Spider-Man went to Washington…”

“Boss,” FRI alerted him again around ten. “Boss, Harley appears to be in distress.”

“What?” he blinked, the kid had been sent to just do whatever he could at the office and come straight home once he was done. “Call him.”

“Dad?” a miserably voice answered the call.

 _Oh no_. “Hey buddy, you feeling okay?”

“Not great, my head kinda hurts and I think I have a fever,” Harley coughed. “Scratch that. I feel awful.”

“Alright, you get in the car and FRI will drive you home, buddy. Alright?”

“Yeah. Sounds good,” Tony was mildly surprised the kid didn’t fight him, but then if he was feeling half as badly as Morgan was…

_It’s gonna be a long couple of days._

By the time Harley got home and changed into pajamas, Tony was up carrying Morgan swaddled in a blanket and dosing on his shoulder. She’d graduated to not being able to sleep unless she was in his arms or laying on his chest and he wanted to be sure Harley got the right meds.

“You feeling nauseous?” he asked his son.

The kid seemed to think for a minute then nodded. “Yeah, a bit.”

“Okay,” Tony got the right pills and handed them to Harley with a glass of water. “Take this and—”

“Boss, call from Midtown Science and Technology,” FRI interrupted.

Harley swallowed the pills while Tony said, “Put them through, FRI.”

“Mr. Stark, it’s—”

“Ms. Stevenson, yeah I know. I’ll be there to pick them up in fifteen minutes,” he said quickly already ushering Harley upstairs to Morgan’s room. “Grab her blanket and pillows will you, buddy?”

His son did as told and they moved towards his room; Morgan would have to bunk with Harley until Tony got back with the twins.

“I’m sorry?” the woman asked.

“They’re sick right?” Tony checked as he started tucking the two kids in.

Morgan whined. “No, Daddy, stay.”

“Daddy will be right back, Baby,” he told her softly. “Ms. Stevenson, my kids are in fact sick and you _are_ calling me to pick them up, correct?”

“Yes, sir,” she still sounded confused.

“Okay, then I will be there in fifteen minutes to get them. Please have them ready, I’ve got two other sick kids at home so we’ll be in a hurry.”

“Certainly Mr. Stark,” the secretary seemed to have regained her composure.

“Thanks, FRI end the call,” Tony said and turned to his eldest and youngest. “Okay, I’m going to be right back, I just need to get Pete and Gwen from school.”

Morgan looked at him miserably. “Petey and Gigi are sick _too_?”

“Yeah, they are Maguna, and I need to go bring them home. Okay?”

Harley took this as his cue to wrap his arms around his sister. “I’ll stay with you until Daddy gets home, okay?”

“Okay.”

Tony kissed both kids on the forehead—Harley didn’t even make a face about it, poor kid must’ve been miserable—and instructed FRIDAY to put on a Disney movie.

 

Peter was having the _worst_ day. First they had been late, which really hadn’t been their fault; Morgan had gotten sick, then they had an English quiz, which was a disaster and his head hurt—he wasn’t even sure that was possible given his spider genes, but Gwen had migraines sometimes so maybe?—and _then_ he’d started feeling nauseous during PE and Flash had been an asshole like always, which had somehow led to him throwing up.

Gwen had also been running a fever, he could tell by the way she’d kept shivering and pulling her hoodie closer; he’d had a feeling she was going to go grab her coat, dress code be damned if given the opportunity, but he had thrown up in PE first and that had sent both of them to the office.

“Really Ms. Stark, I cannot condone you missing class every time your brother is ill,” Ms. Stevenson said.

Peter shook his head, which made his headache worse, but he said. “No, she has a fever. We need to go home. Our sister was sick this morning.”

The woman frowned. “I’ll call your mother.”

“She’s out of town on business,” Gwen said tiredly. “You need to call Daddy.”

“Very well,” the woman kept them in the room as she dialed the number and put it on speaker.

Ms. Stevenson was nice, but she had a tendency to doubt that people got sick. Peter couldn’t blame her given that kids did fake sickness a lot.

“Mr. Stark, this is—”

Dad didn’t miss a beat, he interrupted her and, between telling Harley to do stuff and shushing Morgan, said he would come get them.

“Told you we were sick,” Gwen muttered.

It took their dad less than ten minutes to arrive and say, “I’ll be taking my kids home now, they’ll be back when they’re no longer threatening to infect the entire population with cholera or whatever the hell this is,” before ushering them into the car.

The drive home was nauseating, and as soon as they were out of the car, Peter found himself bent over a trashcan in the private garage. It would have been mortifying if he weren’t feeling so freaking sick, Tony was right beside him in an instant, rubbing his back and reassuring him that it was going to be alright. Gigi looked like she was ready to pass out as she leaned against the wall by the elevator when he finally looked up.

“Let’s get you both upstairs, showered, and in bed, huh? Your Uncle Bruce sent me some meds that work on you guys a while ago, just in case,” dad said and led them upstairs.

The elevator ride sucked, but as gross as Peter felt, Tony didn’t seem to care and held him close during the ride up. Gwen, he noticed, leaned against the wall and just continued to look like a zombie.

 _That’s weird, she’s usually really close to Dad_ , the thought was fleeting as he concentrated on not being sick again.

“Alright, can you two manage to get into pjs, okay?” Tony asked as they stepped out into the penthouse. “I’m gonna check on your brother and sister, and get you two some meds. I’ll be up in about fifteen.”

“Yeah, I’m okay,” his sister said quickly. “I just want clean clothes and my own bed.”

Tony seemed to understand. “Yeah, no problem, Pumpkin. Your stomach feel okay?”

“Yeah,” she nodded and looked at him. “You okay Petey?”

“Uh, yeah,” he didn’t want to seem like a baby. “I want a shower.”

“Alright, up you go. I’ll be there soon to do bed checks and all that sh—sugar,” Tony grinned and walked into the kitchen, dropping their bags by the sofa on his way.

Peter wasn’t thrilled about being alone, but Gwen was acting like she could handle being sick all on her own, and he _was_ fifteen—practically an adult—he could handle the flu. He was Spider-Man, for crying out loud! Still, after his shower and changing into sweats, Peter didn’t feel particularly powerful, just cleaner and tired.

“Hey FRI, how’s everyone else doing?” he asked as he crawled into the bottom bunk; it was easier to get to the bathroom if he needed it that way.

“Morgan and Harley are asleep in his room and have been for the better part of the last hour, forty-seven minutes to be exact. Gwen is taking medicine Boss gave her,” the AI updated him as Tony knocked on his door.

“Kiddo?”

“Come in,” he said quickly.

“Hey, kid,” the man sat down on the bed next to him. “How’re you feeling?”

“Like sh—sugar,” Peter grinned a little; everyone in the family had started using ‘sh—sugar’ just to annoy Morgan, it was working.

“Well, I’ve got the good stuff,” Tony handed him two pills and a glass of water. “I’ll have some flat gingerale for when you wake up, but those will help you sleep and hopefully settle your stomach.”

Peter nodded and looked at the pills apprehensively.

“What’s up?”

 _God he was such a baby_. “I…uh, I just, I’m not really good at swallowing pills,” he admitted shamefully.

Tony rested a hand on his shoulder. “Okay, well, these are going to help so we’re gonna try. Alright? Put one in your mouth, then take a sip of water and tilt your head back.”

“Okay,” he didn’t really _want_ to try, but he wasn’t a little kid so he did it anyway.

It took two tries on the first one, but the second one went down just fine. Tony grinned at him and told him he’d done a good job, which seemed a little stupid given that swallowing pills wasn’t meant to be hard.

“It’s not that big of a deal,” he muttered letting him take the glass back and rest it on the night table.

Tony shook his head and brushed some curls out of Peter’s eyes. “Hey, you’re my kid and that was hard for _you_ so it’s a big deal to _me_. That’s how this parenting thing works.”

Peter snorted. “Right. You’re such a Dad.”

“That’s me,” Tony agreed and made to get up. “Now, you should get some rest.”

It happened so fast Peter didn’t even realize he’d done it until it was too late; he had reached out instinctively and held onto to Tony’s wrist. So much for not being a baby about being sick.

“Sorry,” he said too quickly.

Tony sat back down. “Nope. Talk to me kid.”

Peter felt like he was going to be sick for a completely different reason. Sure, Tony was his Dad, sure he’d consistently said that he was going to be there for him no matter what, and yeah Tony was overbearing and treated them all like little kids a lot of the time—but everyone else, even Morgan, was fine without Tony right now.

“I—uh—just…”

His dad looked at him for a moment, then sighed. “Budge over, kiddo.”

“You don’t have to—” Peter was probably being so annoying and clingy.

Tony shook his head and shifted Peter so he could lie next to him. “Why won’t you just _talk_ to me, Pete? Of course I’ll stay if you want me to stay. No one wants to be sick _alone_.”

“I’m just so—I’m not a little kid, I shouldn’t need my dad to stay with me when I’m sick,” he reasoned.

The offended noise that came from his father made him look up. “Kid, do you know how many times I wished Howard or my mother would stay with me when I was sick? Hell, I even asked once,” Tony trailed off, but the grimace on his face was enough to make Peter’s heart hurt.

“I want you to stay,” he said quickly and pillowed his head against his Dad’s chest—he didn’t want Tony to think that he didn’t want him there. “I know that…I’m not an easy kid.”

“You can say that again.”

“You’re not supposed to agree with me,” he grumbled. “But, I know I’m not and I don’t talk to you about stuff, and I don’t listen—”

“Ever,” Tony added.

Peter sighed. “But I’m glad you’re my dad, and…and I know that even when I make a lot of wrong choices, you’re still…here. And, I—um—well, that’s not something I take for granted. Even if it seems like it.”

His dad’s arms tightened around him. “I’m always going to be here, Pete. Always. Not going anywhere, no matter how much stupid shit you do. I promise. Now, get some sleep.”

“Yeah, okay.”

 

Pepper strode back into the penthouse a little over 24 hours after she’d left it; the kids were sick. All of them had thrown up at least twice, Morgan’s fever got so high that Tony had had to call a doctor to make a house call because he couldn’t leave the others by themselves in this state—by the time Tony had finished telling her everything that had happened in just one day, Pepper had already packed her suitcase and texted Happy that they were heading back to New York.

“You don’t have to come home early, Honey. I’ve got it covered—”

Tony had been cut off by Morgan. “DADDY! DAAAAA!”

“Oh god,” her husband had sounded panicked.

“DAD SHE’S THROWING UP AGAIN,” Harley had been yelling in the background.

“Keep it down your sister has a migraine,” Tony reprimanded, but Morgan was still screaming and sobbing _and_ throwing up. “Pep, I gotta call you back.”

“Tony, I’m coming home—”

“No, it’s fi—Pete? Buddy? FRI, what’s his temperature? And why is he on the ground?”

The response that he’d received had left Tony swearing and then the line had cut.

Needless to say, she had rushed home.

The penthouse was quiet and dark as FRIDAY greeted her quietly. “Welcome Home Mrs. Boss, the rest of the family is in Peter’s room.”

“Thank you, FRIDAY,” she said softly and took her heels off, placing them next to her carry-on in the entry way, before moving upstairs to survey the damage.

All the bedroom doors were open, no kids in any of them, except Peter’s room where the door was ajar. Pepper’s heart melted as she peaked inside; Tony had moved one of the large arm chairs into the room and was sitting in it by the bed with Morgan on his chest—when she had been very small, Morgan had often had trouble breathing when she was sick and Tony’s chest had been the only place she could sleep comfortably, not that he had minded as it reassured him that his baby was still breathing. Now, Morgan was asleep against her father in a very similar fashion. Tony’s hand was being gripped by Peter who was curled close to the edge of the bed so he could be near them. Harley was asleep on the top bunk, snoring lightly, and Gwen was curled up in a nest of at least seven or eight comforters and a slew of pillows on the floor by Tony’s armchair.

“Rough night?” she asked her husband softly as he turned to look at her.

He shook his head smiling a little grimly. “Four tantrums, two insecurity episodes, and I was thrown up on at least three times. But, they’re all asleep and all still breathing. I think the worst of it is actually over, you didn’t need to leave the convention.”

Pepper smiled lovingly at her husband as she carefully padded her way towards him. “Remember when you would have me wear a face mask anytime I got sick?”

“Things change,” Tony defended gently as he leaned up to kiss her chastely. “You really didn’t have to, Pep.”

“I know I didn’t have to,” she frowned. “Do you not want me home?”

“No, no. I _really_ want you home, I also really want to sleep, but I know how important that trip was—” he rambled quietly.

It was her turn to shake her head. “You sound like Peter. I’m here now because I want to be, Tony. I know that I’d be calling you home if all four kids suddenly started throwing up and you were away. It wouldn’t have mattered where in the universe you were, I’d be demanding you come home to help me.”

Tony chuckled at that. “Yeah, okay. It’s only three in the morning. One of them might still wake up or have another fever crisis. You should get as much sleep as you can, I’m already beat.”

“You sure? I could take Morgan,” Pepper suggested reaching for the little girl.

“No, no, it might wake her and she just fell back to sleep. I’m not sure how she’s still throwing up, there can’t be anything left inside of her,” he whined quietly. “You go sleep, they’re all yours tomorrow.”

“Sounds like a plan,” she pressed a kiss to his forehead and left the room. “FRI, get me a picture of that bedroom and save it to the kids’ file, will you?”

“Of course.”

 

The kids stayed sick for another twelve or so hours, but were well enough to get back to school by Friday. Tony, however, got sick and stayed sick for the entire weekend.

“How are you not sick?” he demanded as they climbed into bed on Sunday night.

His wife smiled sheepishly. “I didn’t spend the night in a room full of sick children, and I wasn’t thrown up on. I probably just got lucky, Honey.”

Tony sighed. “Count on these kids to get me sick.”

“They’ll _keep_ getting you sick,” she informed him. “It’s part of parenthood. Everyone is always sick.”

“That seems excessive, don’t you think?”

“You’re mostly fine,” Pepper rolled her eyes. “Aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I am. It just seems ridiculous,” he muttered as he turned off the light. “FRI, bedtime protocol over the entire house.”

“Yes, Boss.”

 

Bedtime Protocol wasn’t a joke. It wasn’t a simple turn off all the lights and the wifi kind of deal, which was bad enough in Peter’s opinion. No, Tony had programmed FRIDAY to alert him or Pepper if one of the kids was awake and in any form of distress that warranted parental attention—of course, Mom and Dad’s idea of distress was different from his own.

“Peter, you’re awake,” FRIDAY observed. “Shall I alert Boss?”

“No, it’s okay FRI,” he said quickly. “I’m just gonna go downstairs to get water.”

“You can get water in your bedroom,” the AI noted.

“Well, I want downstairs water,” Peter shot back as he left his bedroom. “Don’t wake him, it’s not worth it.”

It might actually have been worth it, the darkness of the penthouse wasn’t pleasant and Peter wasn’t sure he wanted to be alone. He could always go bother Harley, but it was close to four in the morning and his brother had work with Mom the next day.

“FRI, can I get the baseboard lights, please?”

“Of course, Peter.”

The lights helped a little. Still, he found himself getting a glass of water from the kitchen and sitting down in the couch instead of heading back upstairs. Tonight’s nightmare had sucked; it had involved a plane crash, which was pretty classic for him, but instead of it being May and Ben, or his parents—who he really only remembered from photographs—or even his friends, it had been his entire family. Mom, Dad, Gigi, Harley, and Morgan had all been on the plane and there hadn’t been anything for him to do when it had started falling apart and they’d been sucked out into never-ending sky.

“Hey kiddo,” his dad said softly from the bottom of the stairs. “FRI said you were awake.”

“Y-yeah, sorry. I told her not to wake you, Dad,” he looked up guiltily.

Dad nodded. “You want to be alone or can I join you since I’m already up?”

“I—um, I don’t want to be alone,” Peter admitted. “Can we…can we go down to the lab? Just for a little bit?”

“Yeah, sure thing, kid,” his dad motioned towards the elevator. “You wanna tell me what woke you up?”

Peter waited until the elevator doors closed then he sagged into his father’s side. “It was just a bad dream.”

“They’re never just bad dreams, Pete. We know this.”

“This one was, I think,” he insisted as they stepped out into the lab. “It was, um, a plane.”

“Yeah?” Dad looked at him curiously. “You’re doing okay on those, though.”

He nodded. “I still get nervous, but it’s not so bad.”

“So what was wrong with _this_ plane?” his dad started pulling one of the SI projects out of the drawers; they sometimes did troubleshooting in the lab when they worked late, rather than working on anything too important in case they got distracted.

Peter pulled a stool up beside him and started pulling the device apart. “Is this a battery?”

“It will be,” Dad said smiling. “I haven’t gotten it to do what I want yet. And we can’t put arc-reactors in everything because that’s just asking for trouble.”

“Yeah it is,” he agreed. “Um, the plane fell apart in the air.”

“That must’ve been really overwhelming,” his dad did that a lot; used the word overwhelming instead of scary or frightening, it helped put things into perspective. “You fell out and woke up?”

“Yeah, _I_ did,” he sighed and looked up at his dad. “And you did, and Mom did, and Morg, Harley, and Gigi too.”

Dad frowned at that. “Oh.”

“Yeah,” Peter looked back at the battery. “So what’s wrong with this thing?”

“I’m not sure,” his dad admitted softly. “FRI, pull up the hologram so we can have something to manipulate.”

“It’s just a stupid bad dream, right?” he couldn’t help asking for reassurance.

Dad looked back at him and smiled a little ruefully. “Yeah, it’s just a dumb dream, kiddo. But, that doesn’t mean you aren’t allowed to feel anxious about it. We travel all the time, often by plane, and you’ve had bad experiences. The worry is real, even if it’s in your head.”

“But our plane is safe,” Peter added. “I know because you check it before we go anywhere.”

“I do, and I have people whose job it is to make sure my plane is safe and operational when it takes my family anywhere.”

That was reassuring. “Besides, there’s no one more obsessed with our safety than you are.”

His dad laughed at that. “Yeah, you’re right, kiddo. I go pretty crazy when I’m trying to protect you guys.”

“It’s okay,” Peter told him grinning. “We love you and it’s better we’re all safe, right?”

“ _I_ think so.”

“Can I patrol tomorrow after school, even if I didn’t sleep well?” he asked hopefully.

“I don’t know,” his dad said carefully. “When did you go to bed?”

“FRI?” Peter looked up at the ceiling.

“Peter was asleep by 10:03PM, Boss.”

“So you slept around six hours,” he glanced at the clock. “Don’t you have decathlon tomorrow?”

“No, MJ canceled, she had a family thing,” Peter replied. “We’re doing it Wednesday and Friday, instead.”

Dad nodded. “Okay, you can patrol after school, but you need to go back to bed now. Deal?”

“Are _you_ going back to bed?” he glanced at the holographic projection of the battery.

“Sure,” the man grinned and waved the projections away. “Let’s get some sleep. I think I need to go into the office tomorrow.”

“That sucks.”

“Don’t tell your mother that.”

 

Gwen was having a bad day. And it wasn’t even 8AM yet. Somehow, FRIDAY had gone down during the night and everyone was running incredibly late. She could hear their Mom yelling for everyone to get up and get ready as Dad said that he’d make breakfast for everyone to eat in the car.

“Guinevere, are you up?” her dad called through her bedroom door as he walked by.

“Yes, I’m up, I’m up!” she answered rolling out of bed; it wasn’t her fault her stomach hurt and she didn’t want to move—even if she only had fifteen minutes to get ready—it was going to be another leggings and hoodie day.

Tony didn’t sound impressed as he said. “Pumpkin, we’re leaving in ten minutes, you better be dressed or you’re going to school in your pajamas.”

“ _I know!_ ”

“Tone, Gwen,” he chastised but walked away before she could say anything back; he was good at that, walking away before she got herself in trouble for back-talking.

She stomped to the bathroom and the lights turned on automatically as she shut the door and grumbled. “Watch your tone. Hurry up. You’ll go to school in your pajamas—like it’s _my_ fault _his_ AI malfunctioned on _Monday morning_.”

Gwen was so frustrated it wasn’t until she was stripping to get into the shower that she noticed it.

Red.

Blood. There was blood everywhere.

 _I didn’t get cut, did I?_ she examined her arms and legs, but quickly came to the only possible conclusion. “Shit.”

It wasn’t like she was surprised she was a late bloomer or anything; all of the super-hero training kept her in shape so the fact that her period hadn’t showed up wasn’t exactly a concern, although it haunted her sometimes.

“FRI, you don’t happen to be awake, do you?” Gwen called up to the ceiling hopefully, but there was no answer. “Okay, don’t panic. Don’t panic.”

She was panicking.

Footsteps entered her room. “Gigi, Mommy sent me in here to tell you to hurry up.”

 _Morgan_. “Morg? Is Mom still home?”

“Yeah, she’s downstairs.”

“Morgan, I need you to get me Mom,” she told her sister desperately. “Hurry.”

“Mommy has to go to work, Gigi, can I get Daddy?” Morg asked.

“No, it _has_ _to be_ Mommy, please Morgan. It’s an emergency. Just tell her I _really, really need her_ ,” Gwen prayed that her Mom was still in the penthouse. “Hurry!”

“Okay, I’m going!” her little sister said urgently as she ran out of the room.

 

Pepper was having a bad morning. The kind of morning that led to pissed off board members and angry department heads. Of course FRIDAY had had to malfunction on a weeknight.

“Relax Pep, take Harls into the office with you, I’ll drop the kids off at school and meet you there by nine,” Tony was trying to placate her as Harley and Peter hurried down the stairs.

The boys looked harried; Peter’s shoelaces were untied and his hair stuck up in odd directions, and his t-shirt was rumpled and on backwards. Harley was in slightly better shape, but his shirt was buttoned incorrectly and his suit-jacket was crooked, his tie was lopsided, _and_ he had the worst case of bedhead Pepper had ever seen in her life.

“Where are the girls?” she sighed as she began straightening out Harley’s shirt and tie, whilst Tony indicated to Peter that his shirt was on backwards. “I sent Morgan to get Gwen.”

“Upstairs, I think?” Pete said as he stood on one foot trying to tie his shoe.

Harley nodded and passed a hand through his hair, effectively making it somehow worse. “Morgan ran past me. I think Gigi’s still in her room.”

“I already woke her again after you did,” Tony frowned. “She should be down here by now. I know she hates mornings as much as I do, but I told her we were in a hurry.”

Just as she was about to reply, Morgan came running down the stairs. “Mommy! Mommy! Gigi needs you. It’s a mergency.”

Her husband frowned. “Okay you take the car, Happy can drive Pete and Maguna to school, I’ll deal with Gwen.”

That sounded reasonable to her until Morgan shook her head emphatically. “No! Gigi said only Mommy. It has to be Mommy.”

“That’s new,” Tony looked at her with raised eyebrows. “Are you sure I can’t handle this, Maguna?”

“Very sure,” Morgan replied confidently.

“Alright,” Pepper nodded, if Gwen wanted her specifically it must have been important. “ _You_ take Harley to the office, Happy will take Morgan and Peter to school, and _I’ll_ handle Gwen’s emergency.”

“She had to have an emergency, _today_?” Harley complained as he finished retying his tie.

Pete frowned at him. “Name one time you _chose_ when to have an emergency.”

“Right,” her eldest looked sheepish. “I’ll go to the office with, Tony.”

“Alright, Team Ironman move!” Tony said as he ushered the kids into the elevator.

Harley laughed. “I actually think my favorite superhero is Thor.”

“Thor’s pretty great,” Peter agreed.

“I like Aunty Tasha!” Morgan said excitedly as the elevator door closed.

 

Gwen was a hair’s breadth away from a full on panic attack. Morgan had been gone _forever_ and sure she sort of knew what she was supposed to do, but it wasn’t like she’d paid attention in health class. Also, there was blood all over the bed—thank god Morgan had been focused on the bathroom door—Gwen hadn’t checked the sheets, but she was sure of it because her favorite pajamas were _ruined_.

 _Oh my god, I’m crying_ , she wiped at her eyes furiously. _They’re just pajamas, Mom and Dad will get me new ones_.

“Gwen, sweetie, Morgan said you needed me,” Pepper said at her bedroom door.

“Yeah, um, come in Pep—Mom,” she called from the bathroom.

Her mom’s footsteps stopped abruptly when she walked in. “Oh.”

“Yeah…” she felt her face heat up even with the bathroom door between them. “I’m—I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t you worry about it,” Pepper said quickly. “Why don’t you jump in the shower and just pile all the clothes up to thrown down the laundry chute afterwards. There should be what you need in the cupboard under the sink.”

 _Right, should’ve thought of that_. She quickly opened the cupboard and pulled out the supplies. “Got it. Thanks, Mom.”

“Okay, don’t worry about the bed or anything, okay? Just take a shower and I’m gonna pull some comfy clothes out of your closet for you, alright?”

“Yeah, okay,” it was infinitely easier to just do as she was told.

 

Fifteen minutes later, Gwen found herself padding downstairs in thick socks and comfortable sweats. Her mom had stripped the bed and left her the clothes by the bathroom door with a little note to meet her in the living room.

“Hey, you okay?” Mom asked as she came down the stairs. “I have painkillers for you, if you need them.”

Her back and legs _really_ hurt. “Yeah, that would be good.”

“C’mon, I’ve got everything all set up,” Gwen noticed that Pepper had changed into sweatpants and one of Dad’s hoodies, she was motioning towards the couch where the coffee table was laden with toast, chocolate, water, cookies, and steaming mugs of cocoa. “I didn’t know what you wanted, but I like warm things when I’m having a rough period. It’s a little early for ice cream, but if you want that, we have it too.”

“It um…it isn’t really a rough period,” she said slowly after she swallowed the pills.

“No?” her mom looked at her. “I figured you weren’t having a good time given that you sent Morgan to get me.”

“Um, it’s actually just…” Gwen took a deep breath and looked at the floor. “It’s my _first_ one.”

Pepper let out a sympathetic laugh. “I know, sweetheart, and that definitely makes it a rough period. C’mon, do you want to watch a movie? I have some Romcoms cued up.”

“You know?” she looked at her mom perplexed. “How can you know?”

The woman grinned. “Because I’m your mother and I know these things.”

Gwen rolled her eyes, but she reached for the toast anyway. “O-okay.”

“It’s a shame we don’t have FRIDAY,” Pepper sighed. “Your father hasn’t rebooted her yet.”

“I might be able to,” she offered slowly. “I mean, I’m not as good as Daddy, but if I had a tablet, I could probably do it.”

“Hm,” her mom shrugged. “I’m sure he’ll get around to it, don’t worry about it. How’re you feeling? Meds kicking in yet?”

“Not yet,” she shook her head.

They ate breakfast in silence while the TV played a random Disney movie Pepper had decided to put on instead of the Romcoms she’d mentioned.

After a while, Gwen felt like she was going to lose her nerve if she didn’t ask now, so she did. “Is it…is it weird that I’m upset but also happy?”

Mom looked at her with a curiously. “What upsets you?”

“Well, I kind of feel awful,” Gwen snorted as she finished the last of her cocoa. “My back hurts and I’m gonna be bleeding for a while so that’s not fun. And, it’s super messy and kinda gross.”

Pepper nodded and leaned back into the couch. “Not the most convenient thing in the world, I grant you. But, you also said you were happy?”

She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I just—I thought that, you know, because of the spider bite that something might—um—be wrong with me? Yeah, I thought it wasn’t going to happen and I was just…you know, never going to have kids or whatever. I don’t even _want_ kids, or I don’t know if I do, I’m fifteen! But, it’s scary when that choice feels like it’s taken away, you know?”

“Oh, Baby,” that term was usually reserved for Morgan, but when Gwen looked up at Pepper all she saw in her mom’s eyes was unadulterated love. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

“It’s okay,” she leaned into her mom carefully; she and Pepper never really cuddled, but right now it just felt right. “Thanks for being here for me, I know you had a lot of work today.”

“Hey,” Pepper pulled back to look at her. “Gwendolyn, don’t you dare, _ever_ think that I’m too busy for you. Okay? You’re my daughter, and if you need me, I will always be here. And that means that you can talk to me, alright? About anything, including normal teenaged stuff like periods, boys, why pockets on jeans are too small, and why bras never fit properly.”

Gwen laughed at that. “I’m really glad you’re my mom, Pepper.”

“I’m really glad I’m your mom too, sweetheart,” she pulled her close.

FRIDAY’s voice echoed through the house. “I’m so sorry, I appear to have malfunctioned around 5:17am. I’m in working order now.”

“I’m kind of glad she was off,” Gwen mused. “That could have been really embarrassing.”

Her mom just squeezed her shoulder. “Alright, enough worrying, do you need anything because I have a whole list of Romantic Comedies for us to watch today.”

“I’m good, the meds are finally working. But, um, why Romcoms, mom?” she laid her head on her mother’s shoulder.

“FRI put Decoy Bride on,” Pepper instructed before turning back to her. “Because that’s what my mom did with me on the day I got my first period. We cuddled up on the couch with chocolate and ice cream, and watched Romantic Comedies all day. It’s one of my favorite memories.”

Gwen felt her eyes well up. “You’re the best mom ever, Mom.”

“Yeah?” her mom’s laugh made her smile.

“Yeah, definitely.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I hope you enjoyed, please let me know what you thought and if you have any ideas for where this should go ;) Comments keep the chapters coming!


	14. The Split

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morgan is Concerned. Also, Harley and Wanda hang out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took a few tries to write. Let me know, I guess?  
> IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE: Harley Davidsons are a type of motorcycle. That is all.

**Chapter Fourteen: The Split**

Morgan H. Stark was Concerned with a capital C.

Her brothers and sister were in the family room with her. Bubba was organizing stuff for work, but he didn’t seem too interested in it; he had decided to stay home today with them because it was Saturday instead of going to work with Mommy. Petey was playing with his Legos, but he had homework on the coffee table that he kept going back to. Gigi was on the ceiling again, even if Mommy told her not to be sometimes, she was reading a book, but she didn’t look happy about it.

All in all, her siblings didn’t look like they were having fun being _busy_.

“I think Mommy and Daddy don’t like each other anymore,” Morgan announced her concern.

“What?” Bubba put his tablet down. “Why would you say that?”

Petey looked up from the Legos. “Well, they haven’t actually talked to each other at dinner the last few nights.”

Gigi dropped down from the ceiling next to her. “And, Daddy spent last night in the garage. He let me stay up with him.”

Morgan nodded. “See?”

“Well, Mom has been sort of busy with work, but she and Tony usually have lunch together and they haven’t in a while,” Bubba frowned.

She sighed and looked at her sister. “They don’t kiss anymore. People who love each other kiss, right?”

Gigi blinked. “Um, FRI, without too many details, when was the last time Daddy and Mom kissed?”

“Boss and Mrs. Boss kissed on Tuesday Morning at 6:43AM.”

“But it’s Saturday!” Petey looked scared.

“Well, maybe they’re fighting,” Gigi said slowly. “And, it might not be a big deal.”

Bubba’s face was blank. “Parents that fight get divorced. Or, one of them leaves.”

“I don’t want Mommy or Daddy to leave!” Morgan felt scared, her chest was tight and her eyes felt like they had too many tears in them. “I want Mommy and Daddy here, together!”

“It’ll be okay, Morg,” Gigi wrapped her arms around her. “I’m sure it’s not actually that serious. Right?”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s probably fine,” Petey said coming to sit on her other side. “Mom and Dad are probably just having some differences and they’ll be okay. Even if they haven’t kissed in like four days—nothing to worry about, Morg.”

“Maybe they kissed at the office and FRI just didn’t see them?” Bubba suggested.

“Boss has not been to the SI offices since Monday afternoon, Harley.”

“Thanks FRI,” Petey grumbled. “It’s fine, Morg. Don’t worry.”

“Why don’t we just ask them?” Gigi asked thoughtfully.

“We can’t just ask them!” Petey looked horrified. “What if they don’t want us to know?”

“But we already know,” Morgan looked up at him teary-eyed. “Maybe we can stop them from leaving?”

Bubba was quiet. “Well, maybe we’re just blowing it out of proportion? We shouldn’t say anything.”

“Mom doesn’t go into the office on Saturdays usually,” Petey said. “What if something’s really wrong and they don’t want to be in the penthouse at the same time. They’re not even sleeping in the same bed anymore.”

Gigi looked a little sick. “Mom let me sleep with her on Wednesday. She _never_ does that. But, you’re right, what if we ask and then they decide that, now we know, it’s enough to make one of them leave?”

Just as Morgan was going to add that Daddy had stayed with her the night before last, the man himself came upstairs from their personal elevator that had access to the labs and the garage.

“Daddy!” she reached up for him to hug her.

“Hi, Baby,” he pressed a kiss to her cheek, which was a little wet. “You okay?”

Morgan knew better than to ask about him and Mommy; especially since her siblings all thought they shouldn’t ask. “Uh-huh, I was just thinking about the sad movie we watched last night.”

“Oh Baby, yeah we shouldn’t have watched that one, huh?” Daddy gave her another tight squeeze. “I’m going to get dinner started, I don’t know when your Mom will be home—”

The elevator dinged and Mommy stepped out. “Oh good Tony! Hey kids, your Dad and I need to talk okay? Why don’t you guys watch a movie? FRI, put something happy on, please.”

Mommy smiled brightly at all of them, but her face became serious when she looked at Daddy, and Daddy put Morgan back down on the couch, then both of their parents walked into the dining room and shut the door.

Inside Out started playing on the TV.

“I want to know what they’re talking about,” Gigi said as she grabbed Morgan up in her arms. “C’mon Morg.”

“I’m coming too,” Petey said and he jumped up to the ceiling to walk to the dining room door.

Bubba still looked a little scared, but he nodded, and the three of them moved to the kitchen to try and hear what Mommy and Daddy were saying. “FRI, mute the TV.”

At the door it was hard for Morgan to hear, but she and Gigi were pressed close because there was a white noise machine in a lot of the rooms so the Spider-Kids couldn’t listen in; Daddy had explained after Petey had gotten nervous about his hearing.

“Well, you can take the girls and I can take the boys,” Daddy was saying.

“No,” Mommy said back. “I don’t think the girls will be happy that way. You know how close Gwen is to you.”

“Don’t act like she doesn’t like you too, Pep,” Daddy said. “We could just ask them to choose, I guess? It might make more sense for me to take Morgan though, you’ve got a lot work going on.”

“We should probably just ask them, I mean they have their own schedules too; long plane rides might not be ideal for Peter either—”

Daddy sighed heavily. “Even if they don’t like it, we _do_ need to split up—”

“NO!” Morgan yelled before she could stop herself, Petey looked really scared, Gigi was shaking, and Bubba was crying.

The dining room door opened before they could back away, Daddy was on the other side and he didn’t look impressed, and Mommy was frowning. “Kids? We told you to stay in the family room.”

“No, no, no!” Morgan shook her head, everything felt loud and scary and she wanted her Mommy and Daddy.

“Don’t split up, please,” Petey said as he lowered himself from the ceiling.

Gigi was crying too. “We’re sorry we’re difficult.”

“And, we’ll help more and be really good,” Bubba put in.

Daddy blinked, he looked worried and turned to Mommy who looked really shocked.

“Okay we’re staging an intervention,” Mommy said as she pulled Morgan out of Gigi’s arms.

“Right now?” Daddy asked, but he had an arm around Bubba.

“Right now.” Mommy said in her business voice as they all moved back to the family room. “Someone tell me what you guys think is going on.”

“You’re—you’re splitting up,” Gigi said quietly, she was wiping at her tears, but they kept falling.

Morgan looked up at Mommy. “You’re too busy with work for me to stay with you?”

“One of you is moving far away?” Petey added softly.

“You’re getting a divorce?” Bubba asked from under Daddy’s arm as they sat down.

Daddy looked scared. “I’m not aware that we’re getting a divorce. Pep is there something I don’t know?”

Mommy shook her head and glared at Daddy. “Tony, no! Don’t even joke about that. We are most definitely not getting a divorce.”

“But you _are_ splitting up?” Gigi asked worriedly.

“No we’re not doing that either,” Daddy said sternly. “At least, not in the way you guys think we are. God, what brought this on?”

“You were talking about dividing us,” Bubba pointed out. “And, Mom went into work today; that never happens.”

“And you aren’t sleeping in the same bed anymore,” Petey said. “You stayed with me on Tuesday, and Gigi said she slept with Mom on Wednesday and she was with you in the garage last night.”

“And you haven’t kissed since Tuesday!” Morgan put in loudly, she didn’t want that to be ignored. “ _You_ said that people who love each other kiss.”

“I did say that, didn’t I?” Daddy said quietly and leaned over to kiss Mommy on the cheek. “Since Tuesday? Really?”

“Yeah,” Gigi still looked scared. “What’s going on?”

Mommy squeezed Morgan tightly, patted Petey on the shoulder, and looked at each of them as she said. “We’re not fighting, we’re definitely not getting a divorce, and we are still very much in love. I promise, okay?”

“Okay,” Morgan echoed along with her brothers and sister, but none of them sounded sure.

“We’re talking about splitting up because Mom has a big business trip to Hong Kong, and I have an Accords Summit Meeting around the same time in Paris. It’s right before your Christmas break starts _so_ we’re thinking we’ll pull you guys out of school a little early and have some of you go to Paris with me, and some of you go to Hong Kong with Mom, and _then_ all of us will meet up at the Lake House for Christmas,” Daddy explained. “No divorces. No fighting. No permanent splits.”

“Oh,” Petey said thoughtfully.

Gigi nodded. “That makes more sense.”

“You’re sure you’re not fighting?” Bubba asked.

“Very sure,” Mommy answered.

“Then why aren’t you kissing or sleeping in the same bed like normal?” Morgan asked curiously as she rubbed her eyes.

Daddy leaned down and kissed her nose. “Because sometimes Mommy and Daddy get really busy and they don’t make time for each other.”

“That was—um— _overwhelming_ ,” Petey said quietly as he leaned into Mommy’s arm.

Mommy nodded. “It was, huh? We’re always trying to put you kids first, but I guess we still managed to scare you.”

“We really didn’t mean for you guys to find out about the trip this way,” Daddy said looking at all of them. “We wanted it to be a good surprise, not a source of actual anxiety. And, we _are_ trying to do what’s best for you guys.”

“The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother,” Gigi said softly.

Daddy blinked, but Bubba nodded. “Yeah, I—um, I really like that quote. Hesburgh, right?”

“Yeah,” Petey agreed. “He was a priest, I think.”

Mommy looked surprised. “Huh, okay. We’ll keep that in mind, I guess.”

“All I’m hearing,” Daddy grinned and Morgan knew he was going to do something mischievous, “is that I get to do this.”

He leaned over again and kissed Mommy on the lips. And he didn’t stop for so long that Morgan was concerned about how they were actually breathing.

“Okay that’s kinda gross now,” Petey mumbled as he put his hands over Morgan’s eyes.

Daddy was laughing. “I thought I was just getting flack for _not_ kissing your mother?”

“Oh you are,” Bubba laughed. “But it’s still gross.”

Petey’s hands moved away from her eyes and she saw Mommy’s smile. “We really need a date night.”

“How about tonight?” Gigi suggested. “We’ll be good. No messes, no lab, no garage, no going outside.”

“We’ll just stay in, order food, and have like a movie night or something,” Petey added quickly.

Bubba nodded seriously. “I’m actually an adult so I can watch everything. Besides, we have FRIDAY, right?”

Daddy looked at Morgan uncertainly. “I don’t know, guys. That was a lot of big feelings—”

“My feelings are okay now,” she told him quickly and motioned to her dry eyes. “They all fit inside of my body okay now, see?”

Mommy laughed at that. “Well, I don’t know. Maybe just for a few hours?”

“Or you can come back tomorrow, we can take care of ourselves,” Gigi said quickly.

Daddy sighed. “This isn’t about getting us out of the house, is it?”

Morgan frowned. “I think, you _have to_ get out of the house for date night, don’t you?”

“Not really,” Mommy smiled. “But, it _would_ be nice.”

“I’ll call Rhodey, maybe he can babysit” Daddy said as he pulled his phone out. “Why don’t you pick where we go, hm?”

Mommy looked really happy, she also had her phone in her hands.

Morgan felt a lot less concerned now.

 

“I can’t believe they thought we were going to get divorced,” Tony said horrified as he and Pepper sat in a private booth at her favorite Greek Restaurant.

His wife shook her head. “I’m still not entirely sure where that came from.”

He sighed. “Maybe they just got worked up? They’re smart kids, but they’ve got baggage, right?”

“True. Harley’s dad left when he was six? We don’t actually know too much about Gwen’s family situation before she came to us,” Pepper said thoughtfully. “It could have been anything, really. Even Peter’s been through enough that that fear could manifest.”

Tony frowned. “Apparently date night is important to everyone, not just us.”

His wife smiled at that. “Something about modeling healthy relationships for our kids?”

“Probably, I’m just glad we get a night out,” he smirked. “Now, I know for a fact you booked the presidential suit—”

“Nope! We’re going to a Broadway show, first,” she cut him off quickly. “I already bought the tickets.”

He tried his best to look disappointed, but really Pepper loved musicals and he loved watching her face as she drank in all of the artistry; they never got enough time off to do things they loved. “Really? A _musical_? Are you sure I can’t persuade you to—”

Pepper’s face matched her hair as she shook her head. “No. We’re going to see Wicked.”

Tony gave her his award winning performance of a Stark sigh. “Fine, tell me about this one.”

“You’ve _seen_ this one!” she rolled her eyes.

“I have?” he couldn’t quite hide the grin this time.

Unfortunately, she caught on. “Yes, it’s the one—Tony Stark, you absolute _bastard_!”

“Pepper! Well, I never,” Tony clutched his chest in mock distress, then he smirked. “So _that’s_ where Pete’s been picking up his vocabulary.”

A cloth napkin hit him squarely in the face. _God, I love her._

 

Rhodey wasn’t entirely sure what he’d expected when Tony had called him and asked if he could babysit his small army of children for the night.

“They don’t actually _need_ a babysitter,” Tony had said. “We’d just feel better if they had an adult—no, Harley you do not count as an adult, you get to be one when you’re twenty-five _maybe_. Yeah, we’d rather have a _responsible_ adult in the house if we’re going to be gone for the night.”

“You’re going somewhere?” he’d asked; Tony and Pepper never really left their kids.

His best friend had sighed. “We had an…ah, episode. It’s complicated, but we need a babysitter, think you can make it over?”

“Sure, okay,” he was sure he’d hear all about the episode at another point in time.

Two hours later, Rhodey found himself and Wanda walking into the Stark penthouse where the kids had been unsupervised for the past forty or so minutes. Wanda had asked if she could come with him and Steve had practically pushed her out the door when she’d expressed interest—they’d all been worried about her getting settled into normal life, Rhodey couldn’t really blame the guy.

“Uncle Rhodey!” Morgan shouted from where she was sitting on the kitchen counter. “We’re baking!”

“Actually, Pete’s baking,” Harley corrected, the oldest Stark kid was sitting at the island obviously keeping an eye on his siblings. “But, Morg’s supervising. Hey, Wanda.”

The brunette waved mutely as she scanned the kitchen.

The spider-kid, or he supposed the spider- _boy_ now, was grinning as he mixed what looked like cookie dough. “We’re making chocolate chip cookies because Gigi found the chocolate chips and then Morg wanted to watch a movie, but we don’t have any snacks, so—”

“Speaking of the other kid,” Rhodey interrupted before Pete got on a roll. “Where is she?”

“Daddy didn’t lock the lab,” Morgan told him in what she probably thought was a covert tone. “So she went to get stuff before he remembered.”

 _Oh god._ “What kind of stuff?”

“Mostly my robotics parts,” the girl herself reappeared and set a box down on the island. “I just wanted to keep working on it and I don’t _need_ the lab for that.”

Harley shook his head. “You know Mom doesn’t like it when we work on stuff outside of the lab; we’re supposed to be keeping the mess contained.”

“Who’s gonna tell her?” Gwen challenged haughtily; the girl was more and more like Tony every time he saw her. “Besides, Uncle Rhodey doesn’t mind.”

Rhodey shook his head, he wasn’t going get into it with one of Tony’s kids; especially not when she was armed with robotics. “Just don’t damage anything and your mom will never know.”

The girl smirked triumphantly and started pulling stuff out of her box.

“Whatever,” Harley got up and grabbed a jacket that had been on the back of his seat. “Wanda and me are heading out, back later.”

“Wait, what now?” Rhodey frowned.

“Have fun,” the kid grinned and motioned to Wanda to follow him to the elevator.

She rested a hand on his shoulder before turning away. “You’ll be fine.”

“Where are you two going?” Pete took the words right out of his mouth.

“Out,” was all Harley said before the elevator doors closed.

“He’s such a wet-blanket sometimes,” Morgan mumbled before turning back to Peter. “Can I taste now?”

The kid handed her a spoon full of cookie dough just as Gwen shouted. “Shit!” And a small fire ignited on the granite countertop.

_God dammit Tony._

 

Harley had opted to walk rather than drive because it was easier to get around the city on foot, and Tony’s cars were all really flashy. Besides, he didn’t want to get in trouble for taking one without asking. Instead, he had pulled on the leather jacket Pepper had insisted on buying him, a grey hoodie, and shoved some aviators over his eyes hoping he looked normal enough that no one would recognize him.

“Hey, Didi, d’you want ice cream?” he asked Wanda as they turned a corner.

“Didi?” she stopped walking.

 _Woops_. “Yeah. Um, well, Wanda is kind of a long name, you know? So, I figured I’d shorten it.”

“Shorten it,” the girl repeated, but started walking again. “Like a nickname?”

Harley nodded. “Yeah, it’s kind of hard to think of a nickname that works with _Wanda_ , but if you don’t like it—”

“No,” Wanda shook her head. “No, I like it. I’ve never had a nickname before. Aside from Scarlet Witch, I suppose.”

“That’s more of a moniker, isn’t it?”

“Moniker,” she repeated; he kept forgetting that English _wasn’t_ her first language.

“Like more of a title than a name, you’re Wanda Maximoff _The Scarlet Witch_.”

“Huh,” she nodded and didn’t say anything for a while.

Harley glanced at her as they walked. Wanda was pretty, he wasn’t _blind_ ; she always wore dresses and leggings with boots that came up to her mid-calf, she was wearing a warm jacket today too because it was chilly—she looked like she was _way_ out of his league. She was also just cool; they’d talked a bit after her birthday party and he’d learned that she liked cars and bikes, Steve wanted her to take an art class at NYU, but she wasn’t too interested in going to school; she’d never really _been_ to school. After all of that, and just the way everyone seemed to walk on eggshells around her, he had wanted to be her friend. It was like no one treated her like she was _normal_. That had to suck.

“Your name is hard to find a nickname for too,” Wanda broke through his thoughts.

He smiled at that. “Yeah, Harley isn’t exactly a common name. Tony calls me Harls, but it’s a little weird for someone else to—it’s sort of like a dad nickname. The interns at work call me Stark, mostly.”

She shook her head and looked off into the distance for a minute, then grinned. “Davidson, well maybe Davy since nicknames are meant to be short?”

“Davidson,” it took him a moment, then he snorted. “Oh my god, it’s a pun. That’s amazing!”

“So, Davy, then?” Wanda looked at him expectantly with a smile on her face.

He nodded enthusiastically. “Definitely. So, ice cream? I know it’s cold, but um, there’s this great ice cream place…”

“It isn’t cold,” she rolled her eyes. “You’ve got a scarf, _how_ are you cold?”

“I was just making a general comment, oh my god. It’s not _that_ cold, it’s just not ice cream season,” he replied indignantly. “ _Do_ you want ice cream or not?”

“Who doesn’t want ice cream?” Wanda looked at him incredulously. “There isn’t a _season_ for ice cream.”

As it turned out, Wanda loved ice cream; apparently ‘there were _so many_ flavours, Davy!’. It was one of the things she loved most about America right alongside super-sized cups of soda. They sat in a booth off to the corner and talked about their lives; she told him about Nat and how she taught her ballet and martial arts most mornings, about Steve who just didn’t know what to with her, but he kept trying and she appreciated it.

“It’s just difficult to engage with him sometimes,” she admitted softly. “I don’t really know what to do with myself either.”

Harley nodded. “I kind of feel that way around Tony; he’s got all these cool ideas and he’s always willing to let me work in the lab with him, but I don’t actually know what I want to do. Or, _if_ I want to do anything. Does that make sense?”

“More than you know,” Wanda sighed. “I’ve never really had a _life_ ; you know? It’s always been warzones, then the um—well, Pietro and I got our powers, and then we were at war again, but with different people.”

“That’s—” he wasn’t entirely sure what to say to that so he settled for the most honest thing he could think of. “That’s fucked up. To not be able to live a regular civilian life, ever? That’s not okay.”

“It’s in the past,” his friend smiled. “I’m working through it, I think. It helps to remember that Pietro would want me to be happy.”

Harley offered a smile back. “It’s hard to feel like I deserve any of this when I know they’re gone. My whole family is dead and I’m here getting ready to go to MIT, and someday inherit one of the biggest companies in the world. That doesn’t feel fair. Or, right.”

Wanda placed a hand over his. “Life isn’t fair. We don’t get to choose, but we do get to live, right?”

“Right,” he agreed; it was so easy to be _real_ with her, to grieve in peace without feeling like he was taking. “So, NYU, huh?”

She snorted. “He’s never going to drop it, I think I’m going to have to go just to make him shut up.”

“You really don’t want to?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to,” Wanda paused. “It’s that I don’t know _how_.”

“So,” he said slowly, carefully choosing words that he hoped wouldn’t upset her, “it’s more of a comfort zone thing?”

“Comfort zone,” she stared blankly at him for a moment. “You mean that I’m comfortable with the way things are now so I don’t want them to change.”

Harley held his hands up in a mock show of surrender. “When you put it like that, I sound like an ass. I’m just saying that maybe different can be good.”

“You always sound like an ass,” she shot back easily, but then she turned serious and there was a sort of vulnerability to her next question that he hadn’t been prepared for. “Do you want to go to that school Tony is sending you to?”

“Uh—yeah, I do. But, I also don’t,” he told her honestly. “I want to go because I like the idea of learning cool stuff and meeting new people, but I also don’t want to go because the stuff I learn might be hard or the people might suck. And, I’m happy here.”

“But you’re going anyway,” it wasn’t a question, but Wanda’s eyes were searching his face for something.

He nodded. “Yeah, maybe because Tony wants me to go, but also because I don’t want to spend the rest of my life following my mom—Pepper, I mean—around trying to keep up. I want to bring something more to the table, help build the SI legacy. Use the opportunity I’ve been given be better…That sounds so stupid.”

“No,” she shook her head. “No, it’s very—um, it’s very noble.”

 

They didn’t get back to the penthouse until around nine, and Harley was sure that they were going to get an earful from Rhodey about it. He and Didi had opted to walk in Central park after their ice cream, it hadn’t been their brightest idea as the snow had started to fall more heavily and both of them were almost completely soaked through now.

“My _hair_ ,” Wanda groaned as they stepped out of the elevator.

“Bubba!” Morg was still awake, she was had looked up from her game of chess with Pete and was grinning at him.

“Hey, baby sis, what did you guys get up to?” he asked his sister as he pulled his jacket off and hung it up before offering to take Wanda’s.

Gwen glanced up from where she was slogging through _To Kill a Mockingbird_. “We made cookies, watched a movie, and then Pete reminded me that we have a book report due Monday. English is the dumbest class.”

“It’s not great,” his brother chimed in. “Not that I’ve started the report either, but I’m procrastinating.”

“Should I be concerned about that?” Rhodey asked frowning.

Harley shook his head. “Nah, Mom will probably help them with the reports tomorrow. She’s the best at that sort of thing.”

“I just want to finish the book before I ask her for help,” Gigi sighed. “Wanda, do you need a towel?”

His best friend smiled a little. “I don’t think there are enough towels in the world to dry me off.”

“C’mon, I’ll lend you some sweats,” Harley laughed and pointedly ignored Rhodey’s look; it wasn’t like _that_ between them. “My room’s the one on the end.”

 

Tony had expected to come home to _some_ destruction; he had belatedly—read, that morning—realized that FRI hadn’t been set to Babysitter Protocol. In his defense, he and Pepper had been…occupied.

What he hadn’t expected to find was his eldest son mostly still asleep on the couch at 9AM. Harley was in dark blue pajamas and a t-shirt, both of which had some form of grease on them; the tell-tale sign that the children _had_ in fact snuck down to the lab.

“Why are you on the couch?” Pepper asked as she walked by their son. “And, where’s Rhodey?”

“Um, he’s around—might’ve gone downstairs actually,” Harley wasn’t fully coherent but he was getting there. “You’re home early.”

“We’re not really,” Tony smiled. “We wanted to get a jump on spending the day with you guys.”

“Oh.” The kid let himself fall pack into a horizontal position

He shook his head. “Why don’t you go up to bed, buddy?”

“Yeah, okay.”

Pepper rolled her eyes. “Now, sweetheart.”

It took Harley three tries to get off the couch, but he managed the stairs just fine considering the fact that his eyes were closed, and waved half heartedly from the landing before entering his room.

“They must’ve had a late night,” Pepper reasoned as she walked into the kitchen. “I’m surprised Rhodey went downstairs instead of sleeping on the couch, though.”

Tony frowned. “I wonder if they stayed up because they didn’t want nightmares.”

His wife bit her lip at that. “Do you think they would?”

“They’re _my_ kids, so maybe?” he shrugged.

Just then the elevator door opened and Rhodey walked out, fully dressed and ready for the day unlike the only other person they’d seen in the penthouse. “You’re back! Hey, where’s Harley?”

“We sent him up to bed,” Pepper told him. “Why was he on the couch anyway?”

“Something about not wanting to room with Peter because the kid talks too much, I think,” Rhodey shrugged. “I think he just didn’t want to deal with the teasing.”

“Right,” Tony frowned. “But, Harley has his own room with his own bed so why didn’t he sleep there? He never _has_ to room with anyone, none of the kids do.”

His friend blinked. “Oh shit. You sent him up to bed?”

“Yes,” Pepper nodded. “He was still pretty much completely asleep.”

“Uh, this might be a good time to tell you that Wanda came over with me yesterday and Harley told her she could have his room,” Rhodey said with a guilty expression. “You might want to check on that.”

 _I’m not being paid enough for this_ , Tony sighed. “You thought it was a good idea to leave them alone up here?”

“He was sleeping on the couch,” his friend defended. “ _I’m_ not the one who sent him upstairs.”

“Objectively, letting him sleep on the couch was a worse move than insisting he sleep in Peter’s room,” Pepper pointed out. “Are you going up or should I?”

“I’ll do it,” Tony muttered walking towards the stairs. “But if Steve has a fit because you let his not-daughter sleep with my son, it’s all on you Rhodes.”

“Tony,” his wife chastised, but her amused tone took all of the sting out of it.

 _What kid would have sex with his siblings and parents in the house?_ Tony thought with an eye roll; he definitely wasn’t going to walk in on anything inappropriate, but it was the principal of the thing he supposed.

He was right.

When he opened the door quietly to check on the kids, he found Harley asleep face down on the bed on top of the comforter while Wanda was curled with her back to him bundled in a small nest of blankets and pillows.

A perfectly acceptable bed sharing situation in his opinion, even if Steve might disagree.

Tony took the time to check on the other kids as well; Pete was asleep in his top bunk with one leg sticking out from under his blankets and his phone laying on the ground, it had undoubtedly fallen from the bed during the night. Gwen was asleep in her usual mountain of bedding, but beside her Morgan lay curled up under her weighted blanket—the girls had decided to have a sleepover, which Tony thought was absolutely adorable.

“They’re all fine,” he reported back. “Both completely passed out. We’re gonna have a hell of a time waking any of them.”

Rhodey smirked. “Think bacon might get them up?”

Pepper laughed. “Is that my cue to leave the cooking to the experts?”

“You just don’t want to help,” he teased his wife good naturedly and pressed a kiss to her lips. “Which is fine, you’re perfect.”

She rolled her eyes, but the fondness in them didn’t escape him.

Twenty minutes later, Gwen and Morgan trudged downstairs still in pajamas and with impressive bedhead.

“Daddy!” they both said and came to hug him.

Pepper shook her head from her seat at the island. “It’s like I’m not even here.”

“That’s not true!” Morgan declared alarmed as she hurried over to her mother and lifted her arms up to be held.

Gwen shook her head and picked Morgan up and deposited her into Pepper’s lap before giving her mother a kiss. “We love you too, Mom.”

“Oh I know,” Pepper smiled and pulled both of the girls in for a hug. “You’re just too easy to tease.”

“What, I don’t get love too?” Rhodey complained good naturedly from his spot in front of the stove.

Tony smirked, “Oh everyone loves you, Honeybear,” leaning over and kissing his best friend squarely on the cheek.

His daughters were setting the table when Pete came downstairs, his bedhead somehow more impressive than Gwen’s. “You’re back. There’s bacon?”

Pepper laughed openly at his reaction. “It’s good to know we were missed, Pete.”

“You were,” the kid replied quickly and hugged her then Tony. “But, can we eat?”

“Go wake your brother,” Tony told him.

It was only after Pete had disappeared back up the stairs that Tony realized his mistake. _Oh no_.

“AAAAAAAAHHHHH! MY EYES!”

“OH MY GOD, FUCK YOU PETE!”

“Poor Wanda,” Pepper said softly, but her eyes were dancing in amusement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are always always appreciated, I hope this chapter brought you joy :)


	15. The Kite and the Kitchen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harley and Wanda hang out, Peter has a lot of feelings, and Tony leaves for Paris.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise it’s early!
> 
> This is a Harley heavy chapter, just an FYI.

**The Kite and The Kitchen**

_Just got to the park, we’re fine_. Harley texted Tony.

Morgan had been desperate to fly her kite one last time before it was officially too cold to do so—Harley thought it was _already_ too cold, not that Morgan cared—but everyone had been some level of busy today. The twins were out with their decathlon team practicing or something, and their parents had a lot of work to get done with the impending business trips that were going to take the entire family out of the country until just before Christmas.

 **Be careful, don’t talk to strangers or be too obvious.** Tony texted back; he’d been nervous about them going out without Happy, but Pepper had taken Harley’s side and reassured the man it would be fine and the head of security was needed at SI.

“Bubba!” Morgan called to him as he finished answering their dad. “Are you gonna help or not?”

He laughed. “Yeah, yeah. Okay I’m gonna run with it, you and Wanda hold tight to the string, okay?”

Wanda was visiting for the day and Harley had originally planned to show her around the tower, and maybe venture out into the city since it wasn’t too chilly; she was always cooped up at the compound. Morgan’s need to fly her kite had gotten his friend’s attention; it turned out that Wanda had never flown a kite before—a travesty in Morgan’s books that needed to be remedied as soon as possible. As such, he had volunteered to take the girls to the park. It was early December, which seemed like a ridiculous time to fly a kite, but he wasn’t about to argue when his sister had been so excited and Wanda’s curiosity had been piqued enough that the same excitement shone in her eyes.

Harley had heard that Wanda liked kids, but he hadn’t thought much about it because she had been so closed off when he’d first met her and Morgan had been distracted or sleepy whenever Wanda had been around otherwise. Now, though, she sank down onto her knees next to Morgan, and held tightly to both the little girl and the kite string.

“Don’t let her fly off,” he warned teasingly as he took the brightly colored paper kite and started to run.

Wanda’s eyes widened with worry and she called frantically after him. “Is that possible?”

Harley laughed; for a superhero she was really fun to mess with, and it was cool to spend time with someone who seemed to take pleasure in all of the little experiences that the world had to hold even if the reason for that was heart-wrenching.

It was a bit of a windy day, which made it colder than he had anticipated, but mom had insisted that they all wear hats, scarves, and gloves—well, his gloves were shoved into his pockets, but the important thing was that he _had_ them. He felt the kite gain traction and he let go in time for it to fly all the way up, the cries of joy and wonder from Morgan and Wanda definitely made up for the numb feeling in his fingertips.

By the time he made it back, Morgan had demonstrated to Wanda the correct way to fly a kite and was talking a mile a minute about why it was so fun.

“How was that?” he asked as he rejoined them.

Morgan threw her hands up as Wanda was currently holding the kite string. “The best, Bubba! You always make it go up on the first try.”

“I’ve had a lot of practice,” Harley admitted as he hugged his little sister; god, he never thought he’d get another shot at being a big brother.

Wanda smiled at him when he looked up, she had a knowing glint in her eye that helped ease the ache in his chest. “He is a very good brother, isn’t he?”

“Mhm!” Morgan agreed as she accepted her kite back from her. “I have the best brothers in the whole world, Wanda!”

“I believe you,” Harley watched as Wanda smiled a little sadly. “I had the best brother in the whole world too.”

Instinctively, he rested a hand on her shoulder, but couldn’t think of anything to say because he knew from experience that there wasn’t anything _to_ say.

They stood in silence for a while as Morgan ran around with the kite; she looked a little funny in her pink puffy coat, hat, scarf, and gloves, but she was happy. Harley hadn’t realized how lucky he was to have his siblings until he met Wanda all alone in the compound with her worrying pseudo-parents and therapist Uncle Sam—as much as therapy and parents were good, Harley had found a lot of joy with his siblings. Or, maybe it was just that they gave him the strength he needed to move forward.

“She’s wonderful,” Wanda said finally turning away from where Morgan was playing to look at him.

He smiled down at her. “Yeah, she’s pretty great. Until she wakes up at two in the morning and won’t go back to sleep for all the world.”

“Morgan has insomnia?” she asked, her tone colored with worry.

Harley laughed. “Genetic collateral from being a Stark, apparently. She doesn’t ever really sleep more than four hours straight; apparently she hasn’t in her whole life.”

“That can’t be good for her,” Wanda mused. “Don’t children grow when they sleep?”

“Well, Tony’s not exactly a giant and Morg’s pretty small. She gets to sleep, sometimes. About two or three times a week, she’ll sleep straight through the night, and Mom and Tony will declare it some kind of miracle. I swear if she ever goes a full week sleeping through the night, Tony will call for a national holiday.”

Wanda snorted. “He _would_ , wouldn’t he?”

“Oh yeah, he’s so freaking over the top. I think he’s getting me a car for Christmas,” Harley sighed.

“Most people would be happy about that,” although her words were what he’d have expected anyone else to say, Wanda’s tone indicated her sympathy; the fact that she _got_ it.

He shook his head. “Yeah well. Apparently I need it, though. I’ll be in Boston, remember?”

“How could I forget?” she said unhappily.

He put an arm around her. “Hey, Didi, you know better than anyone that I’ll be home a lot. And, you’re supposed to call me, remember?”

Wanda sighed, but she did give a bit of a smile as she leaned into him. “Yeah, I know. And it’s really not that different; you already live almost three hours away.”

“Exactly!”

“Being away from my best friend is still upsetting,” she commented offhandedly as if it was the most obvious thing in the world that he was her best friend. “You’re going away to start this new life—”

“Gotta stop you right there, Didi,” Harley pulled back to look her in the eyes not missing a beat; he couldn’t afford to. “I’m always gonna be your best friend, yeah? I’m not going to MIT to up and forget about my family, am I? Why would I lose touch with you? We’re in this together.”

“We’re in this together,” Wanda repeated a little less confidently than he’d have liked, but he got it; trust was hard, he still didn’t fully believe his parents weren’t sending him off to college to get rid of him.

“Oh no!” a cry of alarm came from across the field. _Morgan._

His head whipped around so fast searching for his sister than he might’ve gotten whiplash; thankfully, he found her. Morgan was standing by a tree several feet away looking up at her kite, which was lodged in one of the high branches. She loved that kite, there was no way they were leaving without it.

“Shit,” he muttered under his breath as they moved towards her.

Wanda was frowning. “That’s too high for you to climb.”

“I’ll have to try anyway,” Harley sighed. “Can’t get the twins to do it, they’re out for the whole day. Guess I could call them…”

“Bubba,” Morgan’s brown eyes were filled with tears as she stared at him imploringly. “It slipped out of my hand because of the mittens Mommy made me wear.”

He leaned down and picked his distraught baby sister up. “It’s okay Morg. I’ll get it down for you, Baby sis. Bubba’s got this.”

“Promise?” her tears were freezing on her face and she scrunched up her nose as she whipped at them with her mitten hands.

“Promise,” he told her confidently; he didn’t know _how_ he was going to get the kite down, but he was going to.

Wanda’s brows were furrowed as he passed Morgan to her. “That’s a very tall tree, Davy.”

Harley smiled at the nickname; for all Pete and Gigi teased him mercilessly for it. “I’ve got it. You hang onto this one, alright?”

“I’m _Morgan_ not _this one_ ,” his sister said indignantly, but she wrapped her arms around Wanda’s neck and let the older girl take her into her arms.

“He’s silly, isn’t he? Calling you _this one_ when you have a name,” Wanda said in mock solidarity, not that Morgan seemed to care about the sincerity as she nodded sagely.

The tree _was_ too tall. He got a few feet off the ground before he realized that he wasn’t going to be able to get all the way up without taking some serious risks.

 _We could call for a drone_ , he thought as he climbed back down carefully.

“You can’t get it?” Morgan asked worriedly.

He grinned reassuringly. “Not by myself, but I think we can call for a drone to get it down. I’ll just call Dad, okay?”

“Wait,” Wanda said quietly as she put Morgan down and glanced around. “I can get it.”

“Didi, that’s a really high tree and—” he started, but she wasn’t listening as she lifted her hand towards the kite and it was enveloped by a barely noticeable red glow. “Oh.”

“Woah,” Morgan said softly from beside him.

Ever so gently and carefully, the beloved kite that all of the siblings had made together with their mom and dad dislodged from the tree bows. It was a slow process as Wanda obviously didn’t want to get it damaged as she unstuck it, then very carefully, like something out of a dream, the kite flew around a little before gently floating down into Morgan’s outstretched hands.

Wanda let out a sigh of relief, as if she’d been holding her breath the whole time.

Harley hadn’t really ever seen her use her powers aside from the one time she had decided to drop a gallon of water on him. This had been far more spectacular in his opinion, she’d been so controlled and careful. The fact that she could harness that raw energy and use it to both kick ass and make a little girl smile was incredibly cool.

Morgan placed her kite carefully on the ground and ran up to Wanda tackling her in a hug. “Thank you! You’re the best, Wanda!”

“I—” she looked up at Harley uncertainly. “I just wanted to help.”

“That was amazing,” he grinned picking up the kite and putting a hand on her shoulder. “You definitely helped.”

She offered him a small smile in return. “I’m glad I didn’t break it.”

“You would never have broken it,” he reassured her.

“I could have,” Wanda protested.

“Nah, you couldn’t have,” Harley shook his head as he took Morgan’s hand. “I know you, Didi.”

“Bubba, I’m cold,” his sister looked up at him. “Can we get cocoa?”

It _was_ getting chilly. “Cocoa sounds good, what do you think, Didi?”

Wanda smiled a full blown one this time; she loved cocoa. “That sounds great!”

Morgan reached out and grabbed the other girl’s hand so she stood between them, whilst Harley kept the kite safely tucked under his arm. They walked down the street towards one of the lesser known, but wonderful, independent cafes.

About a minute into it, Morgan looked up expectantly. “One, two, three, swing? Please?”

Harley glanced at Wanda. “On three we lift her so she can swing.”

His friend rolled her eyes at that. “I was born in Sokovia, not under a rock, Davy.”

“Just checking,” he smirked. “One. Two. Three!”

Morgan’s giggle as she swung from their arms was matched by Wanda’s joyous laughter and Harley had to admit that it was one of the best sounds he’d ever heard.

 

“Daddy! Daddy!” Morgan’s excited yells preceded her through the Stark Industries halls along with the sound of her running feet.

Pepper shook her head and gave him an amused smirk. “Notice how that’s never Mommy.”

“It’s always Mommy when you’re gone,” he reassured her with a smile, but he knew his wife was teasing; it was like she’d made it her mission to point out to him that he was a good father.

A crash sounded in the hall outside of their office door followed by a cheerful, “I’m okay!” and the door opening to reveal a grinning Morgan.

“Mommy!” the little girl ran up to her mother and gave her a hug. “Somebody said you had a meeting, but you’re here!”

Tony smirked at his wife. “Well, Mommy is the best at meetings so it ended early.”

Morgan looked up at him with shining eyes and ran over for him to pick her up; it didn’t escape him that she was making it a point to express love to both him and Pepper as much as possible, the scare of them splitting up and the impending trip was having a negative effect on their littlest one.

“You okay, Baby?” he asked her softly.

“Uh-huh,” she said into his neck and then pulled back to look at him seriously. “Daddy. Wanda’s a superhero.”

“Oh,” a small voice came from the doorway where Harley and Wanda had just appeared; the brunette was turning pink as she stepped a little behind his son.

Tony turned back to Morgan and answered in the same serious tone. “Really?”

“Really, really! She saved my kite from the tree!” his youngest exclaimed eagerly. “Bubba couldn’t climb that high so Didi made it come down with her magic powers.”

“That’s amazing,” he said with the appropriate amount of awe; Steve and Nat would be happy to hear that Wanda was using her powers again.

Morgan nodded and then said in a covert tone—at least what passed as covert for a five-year-old, “Daddy, I think she’s a fairy princess.”

Tony smiled and whispered back, “I think you’re right.”

“Dad,” Harley laughed, “I think you’re killing her.”

Tony glanced up to see a blushing and slightly teary-eyed Wanda hiding behind the kid, he smiled kindly.

Pepper had been watching the whole exchange with fondness. “Thank you for getting her kite down, Wanda. It probably wasn’t easy given her Stark genes; she probably managed to lodge it at the top of the tallest tree in Central Park.”

The girl shook her head. “It wasn’t a problem at all.”

“We had cocoa, Mommy,” Morgan added as she leaned over for her mother to hold her. “Bubba knows all the best cocoa places, Didi said so!”

“Didi, huh?” he couldn’t help himself as he raised an eyebrow at his son.

Harley blushed, but Pepper chastised him before he could say anything else to make the kids uncomfortable. “Tony. Leave them alone. Do you two want to join us for lunch or head down to R&D?”

Wanda smiled gratefully at Pepper. “We ate before, but we can join you anyway.”

“Actually,” Harley cut in too quickly, “I wanted to catch a movie before we have to get back for dinner at the tower.”

Tony watched Wanda blink at him for a moment before understanding appeared in her eyes; obviously, Harley didn’t want to deal with any more teasing—the kid was almost as sensitive as Pete sometimes, he’d have to remember that.

“Alright,” he said without hesitation. “You two go ahead, do you want the car?”

“No we’re okay,” Harley smiled at him gratefully. “See you later?”

Pepper pressed a kiss to the kid’s forehead, she had to lean up even though she was wearing heels. “You have fun. Steve and Nat are joining us tonight, so don’t be late, alright?”

Wanda grinned. “We’ll be on time, I promise. No matter how much of a fight he puts up.”

“ _I’m_ always on time, I’ll have you know,” Harley groused good naturedly. “Okay, let’s go. Bye Morg, see you later!”

“Bye-bye Bubba,” Morgan waved from her mother’s arms. “Bye-bye Didi!”

Wanda kissed the little girl on the cheek and said, “We’ll see you after.”

Tony waited until the door shut before turning to his wife. “They’re not going to a movie.”

“Probably not,” she smiled and sat down on the couch with Morgan still in her lap, “but _you_ teased him so he came up with an excuse. They’re all _your_ kids, Mr. Stark; master of deflecting and disappearing from uncomfortable situations.”

“Oh?” Tony leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips. “Is that so, Mrs. Stark?”

Morgan chose that exact moment to yawn and say, “I’m not sleepy.”

Pepper snorted. “No? Not at all.”

“Not one bit,” their daughter shook her head.

Tony sat down beside his wife and youngest, and put an arm around them. “Not one bit, huh? That’s a shame because I’m really comfortable.”

Pepper glanced at the desk where a pile of paperwork sat, but he tapped her on the shoulder and gently shook his head.

Her eyebrows furrowed, _It needs to get done._

 _It can get done later,_ he smiled a little and gestured to their child dosing in her arms and whispered. “Live now, Pep. They’re not little forever.”

“ ‘m not sleepy,” their baby mumbled again, but she burrowed further into Pepper’s arms.

He carefully removed his suit jacket and placed it on top of his wife and daughter like a blanket and kicked his feet up on the coffee table before leaning back and closing his eyes. “I’m not sleepy either.”

Pepper lay her head on his shoulder. “That’s good because I’m definitely awake and I have work to do.”

Her breathing evened out before Tony’s did.

 

Nat and Steve arrived early in the Quinjet, which would have been over-the-top if Tony wasn’t leaving in less than twelve hours. Rhodey flew in as well, claiming that he’d stay at the tower with them until they took the jet back to the compound and then flew to Paris.

“Where are they?” Pepper muttered as Gwen and Peter finished setting the table.

Gwen smirked. “They probably got side-tracked.”

“Or they’re making out on a park bench somewhere,” Pete quipped.

Morgan looked up from there she was setting out napkins. “What’s making out?”

Tony rolled his eyes, but Gwen saved him from answering—well sort of saved him, “It means kissing, Morg.”

“Bubba and Didi kiss?” his youngest asked wide-eyed.

“No,” Pepper said firmly. “Your brother and sister are just teasing Bubba. And, it’s inappropriate and uncalled for.”

Gwen shrugged and walked out of the room.

Tony opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off _again_ , this time by a cry of surprise from the kitchen. When he looked in to see what had happened, he spotted a large container of soup floating gently onto one of the counters.

“I got it,” Wanda said weakly from where she stood in the family room.

“Nice!” Harley grinned at her, then turned to look at Tony. “We’re not late right? You said six in the text and it’s—FRI?”

“It’s 5:59PM, Harley.”

“See? We’re early.”

Pepper had appeared beside him and looked at their son mock-disapprovingly. “You’re more like your father every day.”

“That’s a compliment and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise,” Tony quipped. “Also, why was my mom’s crème of broccoli soup floating?”

“Uncle Rhodey dropped it,” Nat smirked.

Rhodey rolled his eyes. “I’m pretty sure Rogers bumped into me.”

“I didn’t,” Steve shot back.

Gwen remained silent on the ceiling—she really needed to stop that.

“Gwendolyn?” Tony glanced up at her.

“No idea,” she replied with too honest eyes. “But it’s fine now so does it matter?”

Pepper sighed. “You don’t have to ruin an entire pot of soup because you don’t like it.”

“I didn’t and you can’t prove anything!” the teenager said a little too loudly and frowned.

Tony rolled his eyes. “You haven’t even tried the soup, you know. It might be good.”

“That’s what you said about your smoothies,” Pete mumbled from behind him.

Morgan made a face. “Those are really icky, Daddy.”

“I didn’t scare Uncle Rhodey into dropping the soup on _purpose_ , there was just no _space_ and I needed to get one more glass,” Gwen broke, she tended to; his daughter had a hard time lying about anything.

“Now _that_ ,” Pepper smiled. “That I believe.”

“You look too sincere when you lie,” Harley added helpfully. “We’re gonna go drop out coats in my room.”

“No, you can hang them up in the hall and come help put the food on the table,” Tony intervened; as much as _he_ didn’t care, he wondered exactly how much Steve did.

“Sure okay, Tony,” his son shrugged.

Dinner was huge, not that Tony minded; it could be overwhelming to have a lot of extended family, but it was _nice_. Nat and Steve were great to catch up with; they had fun stories to tell about terrorist cells that they uprooted and SHIELD rebuilding, nothing classified, but amusing stuff.

“So you’re telling me that Nick Fury, the spy of spies, has a pet _cat_?” he grinned at Nat.

She nodded grinning. “Yeah, his name is Goose. Danvers tells it better, but apparently he goes completely soft over it, cooing and everything. Of course Steve’s no better, he goes for a morning run and doesn’t go anywhere because he has to pet every dog.”

“You know what Romanoff,” Cap shot back, looking up from a conversation he appeared to be having with Rhodey and Pepper.

Tasha’s answering smirk so fond that Tony almost balked at how caring his assassin friend looked.

“Oh my god, Pete, I’m going to fucking shove you out a window,” Harley growled and Tony knew he wasn’t meant to hear it, but he had.

“Wanna try that again, buddy?” he raised an eyebrow.

Peter smirked. “Yeah, _Davy_ , wanna try that again?”

“Pete—” Tony meant to chastise, but Harley cut him off soundly; he really wasn’t used to be interrupted _this_ many times by anyone who wasn’t his wife.

“ _You_ aren’t allowed to call me that,” his eldest glared, ignoring the silence at the table. “Only Wanda is allowed to.”

Tony knew his younger son was too impulsive to hear the actual warning in his brother’s voice, sure enough Peter retorted. “Oh yeah? Why not? Is it becau—”

“It’s because it’s clever, you ignoramus, and _she_ thought of it,” Harley had turned fully to face his brother and was holding a spoon, which Tony was sure was going to make it halfway down Peter’s throat if the kid didn’t stop.

But, of course, Peter didn’t know when to stop because he was a _fifteen year old_. “Really? Ignoramus? Because I think you just lo—”

“Peter Benjamin,” Pepper said sternly.

That got the kid’s attention.

Tony cleared his throat. “Pete, don’t annoy your brother half to death, he knows where you sleep. Harls, don’t threaten to kill your brother because he’s acting like an a—a child.”

Peter looked sufficiently chastised and mumbled. “Sorry.”

His brother ignored him completely and flashed a grin at Tony. “He wouldn’t _die_ if I threw him out a window. He’s Spider-man.”

Natasha snorted. “They really _are_ your kids.”

“Why do people keep being surprised about that?” Gwen asked no one in particular. “Wanda, pass the salt please.”

Wanda floated the salt over to her. “I think it has something to do with you being adopted.”

“But adopted doesn’t mean not Daddy’s kids,” Morgan frowned from her high chair. “And besides, people say that about _me_ too!”

“Really?” Tony asked her; he was curious as to who these _people_ were.

“Uh-huh,” his daughter said seriously. “At school.”

 _That makes sense_.

Dinner conversation drifted on and the boys kept the fighting to a minimum mostly. Tony wasn’t entirely sure _why_ the boys fought as much as they did; god knew the girls never fought about anything. Gwen and Morgan were incredibly close; they had sleepovers about once a week, which he and Pepper weren’t too sure about, but soon realized that it actually meant both girls slept through the night on that particularly night. Harley and Pete had sleepovers too, although less frequently, and Peter had only started arguing with Harley in the past few weeks. More than anything, the older boy seemed to be just genuinely pissed off at his brother for teasing him and Peter wasn’t letting up.

 _We’ll have to get to that,_ Tony frowned.

“Tomorrow morning at five,” Rhodey was saying.

“ _That_ early? On a _Monday_?” Gwen whined. “We won’t get to say good bye!”

“You’ll say good bye the night before, like when I go on business trips,” Pepper reassured her.

But Tony knew that all of the kids were unhappy with that arrangement. “Kids, you’re going to have school and tests; you can’t wake up at 5AM to say good bye.”

“That sucks,” Peter said sulkily looking, and acting, far younger than strictly necessary.

“Chin up, Underoos,” he told his son. “It’ll be alright.”

“But you’re gonna be gone so long,” Morgan said balefully.

The other adults at the table had taken a step back from the conversation.

“You still have school, little miss, you’ll be joining me two days later,” he reminded her.

His youngest still looked miserable. “But _Didi_ gets to go with her Mommy _and_ her Daddy!”

Wanda froze mid bite and blinked. “I’m an Avenger. I have to go Morgan.”

“Oh yeah,” the little girl deflated visibly. “I forgot.”

Tony tried not to grin too hard at Tasha and Steve’s faces. “Do you guys need to switch up who’s going where?”

“No,” all four kids said quickly.

“It was hard enough to decide once, we aren’t changing anything,” Gwen said flatly.

“Decide?” Nat asked curiously.

Rhodey chuckled. “Tony and Pepper had the kids pick between them because Pepper has a business meeting in Hong Kong that overlaps with our Summit, and neither of them can take care of all four kids.”

“We didn’t have them pick between us!” Pepper corrected him forcefully and pinched him for good measure. “We had them decide if they wanted to go to Paris or Hong Kong.”

“The girls are joining us in Paris,” Tony explained. “Pep’s taking the boys to Hong Kong.”

“Is it a good idea for you to be out of the country while we’re negotiating an international peace treaty?” Steve asked carefully.

“It’s not the best plan, but Happy will be with me and I’ll have my suit,” Pepper told him. “We can’t let one of our jobs dictate both our lives.”

“Mostly because if it did, she’d be going to Hong Kong and I’d be playing Mr. Mom,” Tony smirked.

“What’s Mr. Mom?” Peter asked out of the blue; he wasn’t sulking quite as much.

“Mr. Mom is a 1983 comedy film, Peter,” FRIDAY supplied without prompting.

Tony’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s new, she doesn’t usually answer without being asked a direct question.”

“Wow you’re old,” Pete said softly.

“You’re grounded,” he told the kid evenly as the rest of the table cracked up.

 

Pepper wasn’t terribly excited about waking up at 4:45AM to see her husband off, especially not after having a hell of a time putting four kids to bed. Even Harley, at nineteen, had had a rough go of it and had gotten up at least twice to wander the halls of the penthouse forcing her to get up and send him back to bed. She had done all of the after bedtime bed-checks because they hadn’t wanted the kids to keep getting up to see Tony; no one would get any sleep that way. No matter how heartless it felt to have to insist that all the kids say goodbye to their father at a reasonable hour before bed.

The precaution hadn’t stopped Morgan from getting up no less than four times between nine thirty and midnight nor Gwen and Peter from needing to be tucked in again every single time Pepper got up to get someone into bed. Tony had lost it at midnight and used FRIDAY to deliver a message to all the kids that if they got out of bed again he was going to incinerate all their Christmas presents.

 _“And also I love you, all four of you, but you need to sleep because we do too,”_ he’d said fondly.

Now, Pepper stood at the bottom of the stairs listening to her eldest talk to her husband, she hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but Harley sounded like he was having a rough time.

“So, um, what kind of weather are—um, are you flying in today?” the boy asked Tony quietly.

Her husband snorted and put down what sounded like a dish to walk around the island face their son. “Harls, you did not wake up at four in the morning to talk my ear off about the Quinjet’s autopilot sequence or the weather. What’s up with you, buddy?”

“I just, um,” Harley struggled. “If you wanted to, you know, I don’t usually—um, can I hug you? You know because you’re leaving? It-it’s stupid, never—”

Pepper caught a glimpse of Tony with his arms wrapped around their nineteen year old, crushing the kid into a bear-hug.

“Is that what all the fuss was about?” he chuckled. “Harls, you can always give me a hug. You don’t need to ask.”

“Well, it’s just that I’m…well, I’m nineteen and not _really_ a kid,” their son said softly. “I’m too big for cuddling like the others.”

“Bullshit,” Tony said promptly and firmly. “You’re a kid. You’re a good kid. And, you’re _my_ good kid.”

Pepper’s heart caught in her throat at the sight of Harley looking up at Tony with hope written all over his face.

“I’m your dad and you’re my kid. That means that nothing is ever going to stop me from loving you, which I do by the way. I love you. I love you so fucking much and I’m so proud of you, and I’m always going to be proud of you no matter what, got it?” Tony paused for a moment to let Harley, who was still wrapped in his arms make an affirmative noise.

“Good. The fucking _patriarchy_ isn’t going to stop me from hugging my kid and kissing him on the forehead,” to illustrate his point, Tony promptly kissed the kid on the forehead. “There isn’t _anything_ I wouldn’t do for you.”

“B-but isn’t it like weird?” Harley asked tentatively.

Tony shook his head. “No, it’s not. You’re my son. I’m here to provide you with love, comfort, and safety. That includes cuddles; did you know that you actually need physical contact to feel better? Babies actually die without it. I held Morgan every second of every day that Pepper wasn’t holding her for the first three months of her life.”

“Well, no one knows how to keep us safe like you do,” the kid rested his head on Tony’s chest again. “So I can get a hug whenever I want.”

“Whenever you want,” Tony confirmed. “If you need to sit in my lap and be five years old for a few minutes, I’m certainly not going to stop you, not if you’re nineteen or ninety-five. God knows, Pete needs to feel like he doesn’t have the whole world on his shoulders every once in a while.”

“Pete sits in your lap for cuddles?” _Dammit Tony_.

“Yes, and you are _never_ to tease him or bring it up ever, you hear me?” Tony’s voice was deadly serious. “My kids aren’t going to be shamed into not being loved.”

 _God I love him_ , Pepper thought suddenly.

“I promise I won’t ever speak of it,” Harley agreed. “But it’s—it’s good to know you don’t mind.”

“Neither me, nor your mother, mind if you need a good hug, alright?”

“Thought Stark Men were made of iron,” the boy laughed.

“That’s also bullshit. You good? I need to finish my toast, but—”

Harley let go gently, as if he were sure that if he needed another hug he’d get one. “Yeah I’m okay.”

“Good,” she heard Tony pull out a barstool at the island and sit down. “Speaking of Pete, what’s up with you two?”

“I don’t know,” Harley answered honestly, Pepper could hear it in his voice. “We were fine for a while, but he’s lashing out a lot and I can’t really help fighting back. But I’ll try to be better—”

“Nah,” Tony sounded flippant. “Don’t worry about it. It’s probably not you at all, Bud, Pete gets in his own head sometimes. I would know, I do it a lot.”

“Big feelings?”

“Exactly. Whatever’s bothering him, he’ll talk about it when he’s ready. In the meantime, you be good for your mother, and _try_ not to shove him out of the plane.”

“Just try?”

Tony snorted. “Do no harm, take no shit. Okay? Pete’s fifteen and that’s rough, but that doesn’t mean you can let him be a little shit all the time. Alright?”

“Sure, Dad,” Harley sounded happy.

“So, I’m Dad now, huh?”

“That okay?”

“Sure is, Kiddo.”

 _Things are going to be just fine_ , Pepper thought as she attempted to look groggy before making her way into the kitchen and pretending she hadn’t heard one of the most heartwarming things in her whole life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I hope you liked it! Let me know what you think (especially about Harley and Wanda's relationship) in the comments please. Comments feed the writing goblin in my brain ;)


	16. Paris and Hong Kong (Part 1: Paris)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony is in Paris. Hell sorta breaks loose and he has an interesting conversation about what it means to be a hero.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like this one as much as I loved writing it.  
> Head’s up: this is totally self indulgent.

**Chapter Sixteen: Paris and Hong Kong (Part 1: Paris)**

Tony wasn’t particularly surprised when he was interrupted by FRIDAY announcing, “Boss the Iron Princess has entered the building.”

Instead he smiled and addressed the room, which was filled with the official members of the international security council as well as a private audience, “You’ll have to excuse me for a moment, pressing emergency.”

“Mr. Stark!” Tony didn’t wait for the rest of that statement as he hurried out of the room and down the hallway.

“I WANT MY DADDY!” Morgan H. Stark had definitely entered the building.

Tony tried not to look suspicious as he muttered. “Full blown Iron Princess or just a lead-up FRI?”

“Just a lead-up Boss, Gwen’s had it mostly under control all morning according to Karen,” AI babysitters were the best.

Tony barely managed to stifle a laugh when he turned the corner and spotted his two daughters in the lobby with three security guard who looked like they were at a complete loss.

Morgan was in dark jeans and a hot-rod red dress-coat, she was stamping her stylish black boots on the marble floor and yelling at what Tony knew to be less than half of her lung capacity. Gwen looked like she was enjoying the show; his eldest daughter held her dark dress-coat over her arm as she watched her sister put on her performance—Morgan had probably decided that a tantrum was the quickest way to get them both to Tony.

In the last few weeks, Gwen had become slightly more comfortable with fancier clothing, much to his and Pepper’s relief; it would have been fairly difficult to have a teenaged girl in a hoodie at every event the family attended—although, if she had really wanted that, he wouldn’t have stopped her. No, his eldest daughter was dressed in stylish black jeans to match her sister and a pink blouse that almost doubled as a dress, her very beat up pink Chuck Taylors wouldn’t have been his first choice to complete the look, but they’d do.

“I’m here!” he said quickly. “How’re my girls?”

The chorus of “Daddy!” that ensued followed by the hugs he got made up for any thoughts of how inconvenient the girls’ arrival in the middle of his presentation was.

“I’m okay now, Daddy,” Morgan told him as she settled herself in his arms.

Gwen looked a little sheepish. “We didn’t want to go to wait at the hotel so I asked the driver to bring us here.”

“Of course you did,” he couldn’t really be upset with her, he missed his girls a great deal. “And by told, you mean bribed.”

“Were you busy, Daddy?” Gwen glanced at him uncertainly and completely ignoring his comment.

He nodded. “I was in the middle of a presentation, I need to get back to it.”

“I’m coming with you,” his youngest said decidedly.

“Wouldn’t dream of anything else, Maguna,” Tony smiled and put an arm around Gwen. “You two can come sit in on the rest of it.”

“W-wait,” his older daughter looked a little nauseous. “You want us to go in _there_ with Ross and the Avengers and international leaders?”

“Well, the Avengers, international leaders, and about a hundred other people who were invited,” Tony smiled encouragingly. “You’re going to be fine, Pumpkin. I promise.”

Gwen nodded and pulled a pair of rectangular framed glasses out of her coat and put them on. “We’re Starks so we’re made of Iron?”

He snorted, Howard would have been proud that she’d read up on him he supposed. “Well, if we’re going for _that_ family moto. Just be confident, Guinevere, you’re Tony Stark’s daughter; you _deserve_ to be there.”

“Be like you?” she grinned up at him.

“Exactly, just act like I would in a serious meeting involving international powers if I were a fifteen year old girl and you’ll do great!”

“I can do that.”

“What do I do, Daddy?” Morgan asked as they neared the doors.

Tony hitched her up higher on his hip. “Look adorable and stick me with, Princess. Can you do that?”

“Uh-huh,” but his youngest daughter was already cuddling closer and getting ready to hide her face in his neck.

Gwen, however, seemed to have relaxed and as they walked into the room she kept her chin up and, while she stuck close to him, Tony knew that she was putting her game face on.

“Terribly sorry about that,” he said in his most unapologetic voice. “Family emergencies and all. As you all might know, this is my youngest Morgan and my daughter Gwendolyn. They’ll be joining us for the remainder of our meeting.”

Gwen grinned and said, “Sup” popping the P at the end of the word much like he was wont to do, then walked towards his chair clearly marked _Dr. Anthony Stark_ and dropped into it, she let it spin once before propping her feet up onto the long table as it came back around and pulling her phone out.

Tony felt a swell of pride; Gwen was a reserved teenager and even if it _was_ an act, she was doing very well at giving off a devil-may-care vibe that rivaled his own—that should have probably worried him more than it did.

Steve was eyeing him with raised eyebrows, but Nat was smirking as were most of the other Avengers, Danvers even looked impressed. The International folk seemed less impressed, but Tony wasn’t too concerned.

“Now, where was I?” and he picked up right where he left off, adding in details and explaining his proposal for global security and how the Avengers would play into intergalactic conflicts—God, what _was_ his life?—whilst holding Morgan in his arms and occasionally asking her to point out things on the screen; ‘Can you show the people where the most strategic locations for our installations would be, Baby?’

“Stark,” Ross said once he’d finished over an hour later, “you can’t expect us to believe that your reasoning for doing this isn’t to spy on all of people of the world and create loopholes for your superhero pals. You’ve proven over again that you really only serve your own interests—”

“I’m sorry,” Gwen piped up from her—or Tony supposed _his_ —spot at the table, taking her bright pink Chuck Taylors down and leaning forward. “Lieutenant Colonel Rufus was it? Are you saying that Daddy saving half of the universe and nearly losing his life in the process was _not_ enough heroism and philanthropy or simply that you’re not man enough to accept that this is a good proposal?”

Ross started turning pink.

Gwen stood up, she still had her game face on, but Tony could see the barely controlled emotion in her eyes. “O-or, _maybe_ , you’re suggesting that you don’t have the compassion necessary to understand the sacrifice required to lay down on a wire and let someone else crawl to safety, Major Ruben?”

Tony didn’t think Ross could turn purple, but the man clearly was as he ground out, “General…”

His daughter ignored the man as she walked around the table, her steps were sure, but her voice shook a little as she continued on. “And, from everything I’ve read about you, Sergeant Roots, you say you want to protect humanity from threats that come from powered individuals. Are you suggesting that Daddy and the Avengers aren’t worthy of protection because they have powers?”

“Or, are you just disregarding the fact that—under the definition of enhanced—Daddy isn’t strictly considered any more or less human than anyone else?” she took a shaky breath then, but fixed Ross with anger in her eyes. “ _Maybe_ , Corporal Reed, you think that wanting to protect the earth from potential harm is an issue of having the largest gun and not about having the best strategy and the greatest cooperation among nations?”

Ross had turned entirely new colors that Tony didn’t even know existed.

“Do you think that the best solution to violence is more violence and third-rate weapons development rather than a preventative warning system allowing humanity’s self appointed protectors to sacrifice their personal safety as well as their families’ peace of mind to respond as they see fit so that the rest of the world may rest easy? Is that it, Private Ronald?” Gwendolyn kept going as she stepped closer to the kaleidoscopic man, even though Tony saw her hands clenched into fists and shaking, and heard her voice waver occasionally.

“GENERAL ROSS!” the man bellowed as he banged his fists on the table.

Gwen stopped a few short feet away from the enraged Neanderthal and lifted her glasses over her forehead and said in true Stark fashion, “I feel like you might be too emotional to continue this conversation, Cadet.”

Ross lost it, of course, but Rhodey had already managed to get between them before the man did anything that would result in a tremendous lawsuit.

Tony didn’t really know what to say to his daughter, but Morgan seemed fairly content to sit in his arms so he switched his mic off discretely and put a hand on Gwen’s shoulder.

She was shaking, but the moment was pivotal and so quietly, as the other members present broke into chaos, he said. “Like Iron, Gwendolyn, just a little longer.”

“Like Iron,” his daughter repeated softly.

Carol was on her feet, as were many of the leaders in the room, but she was the one who spoke loudest and clearest.

“What are you going to do, Ross? She’s a fifteen-year-old _human_ child, you’re going to shout at her and condemn her for telling the truth? The universe owes Tony Stark and his family a debt that can never be repaid. I don’t have time for any _more_ of your bullshit. It’s been months of meetings and you don’t want to leave this Summit having signed anything, you _walked_ in here with no intention of helping us settle anything, as did many of you,” Danvers looked around the room at the representatives present; some seated, some having jumped to their feet.

“Sign it. Don’t sign it. We’ll still protect your people because that’s what we _do_ , but if you don’t sign it, I promise you that a younger, more informed generation will rise up, replace you, and stand for peace in your stead,” she gave Gwen a small approving nod and Tony felt his daughter stand just a little taller.

“Those are very strong statements, Captain Danvers,” the British representative said softly, and after a moment the woman sent Gwen a small smile and turned back to the table. “I agree with you.”

From there the conversation resumed, but in a more productive manner than Tony had ever seen; they weren’t fighting about semantics, they were making _actual_ progress.

Tony smiled at his daughter and said softly, “Good job, Pumpkin. I’m proud of you.”

Gwen looked up at him with her startling blue eyes and smiled. “I was okay?”

“You’re perfect,” Tony replied as he passed a suspiciously silent Morgan to her. “Go sit down, I need to help figure a few things out.”

“We’re staying here?” his youngest daughter looked concerned, which explained the silence. “But the bad man shouted.”

“It’s okay Morg,” Gwen told her sister. “Daddy will protect us. We’re gonna go sit over there next to Wanda, okay?”

“That’s Daddy’s chair,” Morgan observed as Gwen started walking away.

“Yeah, that’s why we’re going to be safe there,” she answered and Tony felt his heart swell with pride; what had he done to deserve the faith his daughters had in him?

 

It took another hour to get everything settled, but then they were _finally_ leaving the conference room and phones were being turned back on.

“Nice work in there, Stark,” Carol said as she came up to them, Valkyrie on her arm.

The Asgardian grinned. “Both of you. Very impressive, Gwendolyn, right?”

“Thanks,” Tony grinned.

His daughter blushed. “Just Gwen, usually. Um, thanks Ms. Valkyrie.”

“Just Val works,” the woman offered.

Morgan looked up at Tony with curiosity. “Is she our Aunty too?”

He shrugged. “Sure, why not? Morgan, Gwen, meet your aunties Val and Carol.”

Gwen blushed harder, but Carol grinned. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been called Aunty Carol.”

“Really?” Morgan looked surprised. “You have other nieces and nephews?”

Carol grinned. “I have one niece, she’s my best friend’s daughter, she’s Lieutenant Trouble since I’m Captain Marvel.”

“That’s cool! Can I be a Lieutenant too?”

Tony cut in jokingly. “Absolutely not! What am I going to tell Mommy when we get home and she finds out you joined the intergalactic military, huh?”

“You tell her you love her,” Morgan said like it was obvious. “And you give her juice pops because those make _everything_ better.”

Gwen laughed. “I don’t think that’s going to work, Morg. Mommy doesn’t like juice pops as much as you do. Actually, _no one_ likes juice pops as much as you do.”

Tony’s phone buzzed; Pepper was calling. “Speaking of Mommy. Carol, could you keep an eye on them.”

“Sure thing,” she waved him off and continued to engage with Morgan, while Valkyrie talked animatedly with Gwen.

“Hey Pep, how’s the love of my life on an eleven hour flight to the other side of the world?”

“Tony, have you seen the news?” she sounded _very_ stressed.

Tony frowned; a stressed Pepper was never good. “What? No, we just walked out of the meeting, what happened?”

“Gwen is trending. Everywhere.”

“What?”

“There’s a video online of her telling off Ross in front of an entire international committee, Tony please tell me that didn’t happen.”

“Fuck.”

“Oh god.”

“How did that even get online? No one was supposed to have their phone on! How bad is it? It can’t be _that_ bad.”

“Dad,” Peter quipped letting it be known he was on speaker. “You’re like the only person on earth who hasn’t seen it.”

“More importantly,” Harley butted in. “There’s a flock of vultures outside the building you’re in.”

“Shit.”

Pepper sighed. “Stop cursing in front of the children. Just get out of there, I’ll handle the media.”

“Pep, I’m so sorry. She is too, she didn’t mean—” God, the damage control was going to be hell.

“Tony, Honey,” she said softly. “It’s a long flight, and by the looks of it she helped?”

“Yeah,” he couldn’t help but chuckle. “She actually really helped.”

“Then we’ll just handle it. We’re her parents, it’s what we do.”

“Most parents don’t have to handle instant internet fame,” he muttered.

Pepper giggled. “Most parents don’t have to witness their daughter telling off a US army general in front of the whole world.”

“I’ll let Nat know, if she doesn’t already; there might be some security issues if someone managed to catch _that_ on video, who knows what else they got.”

“I’ll keep you posted on my end, I love you.”

“I love you too,” he smiled. “And, the boys.”

“Love you Dad,” his sons echoed before the call cut.

Tasha was already striding towards him. “We have a security breach.”

“I know,” he frowned. “I need to get the kids out of here.”

“I got the car to come around back, who do you want with you?” she asked quietly.

“Uh,” Tony glanced around and saw Rhodey and Sam chatting with one of the international leaders, he couldn’t tell which one, but they looked occupied—he _could_ unoccupy them, but Rhodey would still need his suit and that wasn’t necessarily convenient for car security. “You, Wanda and Steve. We can call the others after we figure out where we’re having supper.”

“Just us?”

“Yeah, we can let everyone else know in the group text. Let’s go,” he told her before moving towards his daughters.

“And _then_ DUM-E sprayed him with the fire extinguisher!” Morgan was telling Carol enthusiastically.

The woman laughed a genuine belly laugh. “Stark, if my niece is Lieutenant Trouble, then your daughter is Commander in Mischief General.”

Tony smirked and pulled Morgan up into his arms, “Yeah she is. And, emotionally manipulative too.”

“Who, me?” the little girl looked at him with doe-eyes.

“You’re as bad as Peter,” he muttered.

“Peter’s your son, right?” Carol asked casually. “She was mentioning a Petey.”

“Yeah, you met him. Handed you the infinity gauntlet,” he told her quietly.

“Oh,” she blinked. “ _Oh_. Brave kid.”

“All of them are,” Tony glanced at Gwen. “We need to go; there’s press outside, and I don’t want them to deal with that.”

“I don’t want to go, Daddy,” Morgan kicked her feet.

“Well, this isn’t about want, Little Miss,” he told her softly. “Can you, maybe, _want_ something else?”

“Juice pops?” she looked hopeful.

“I don’t know if I can find you juice pops in Paris, Baby, but how about we go for some sweets later?” he proposed.

“Promise?” Morgan checked.

“I promise,” Tony agreed. “You were a really good helper today too, so you’re definitely getting sweets.”

“Okay, that’s a good deal,” his littlest daughter flashed him a wide grin.

Carol patted him on the shoulder. “She drives a hard bargain.”

“She’s an extortionist,” Gwen commented from where she was standing. “We’re leaving?”

“Yeah, we are. C’mon, your Auntie Nat’s waiting.”

“Bye Auntie Val, bye Auntie Carol,” Gwen waved quickly before running up beside him and taking his hand. “Daddy, why did Mom call?”

“It’s a little complicated.”

“Is that why we have to leave?” Morgan asked instead.

“Yes and no.”

“Those aren’t answers, Daddy,” Gwen told him frowning.

“Everything is fine, let’s get in the car, okay?”

“I don’t like it,” Morgan said firmly.

His older daughter looked up at him suspiciously. “I don’t either.”

These two were going to be the death of him.

 

They about a block away from the Summit building before Gwen pulled out her phone and promptly lost her mind.

“Oh my god,” her face drained of color. “Daddy, what did I do?”

Tony grabbed her phone and turned it off without thinking. “No phone. Karen turn all her social media off. You didn’t do anything wrong, you were great in there, okay?”

The horror on his teenaged daughter’s face only grew as she started to hyperventilate. “Oh my god.”

“Everything okay back there?” Steve asked from the driver’s seat of the SUV.

Wanda looked worried as she leaned over from the back with Morgan beside her—no car seat, which was giving Tony mild palpitations. “You’re fine, Gigi, okay? You did great and got the conversation moving.”

Gwen kept taking shallow breaths.

“Pumpkin,” Tony took his daughter’s hand and placed it on his chest. “You’re gonna try to match my breaths okay, Princess? Nice deep breaths. Inhale for four. Exhale for four.”

“Is Gigi okay?” Morgan asked, fear lacing her voice.

Nat turned around in the passenger seat. “Everything is going to be fine, Morgan. Don’t you worry, alright little one? Wanda, give her a hug for me, won’t you?”

In his periphery Tony saw Wanda wrap her arms around Morgan and start to rock softly, but he kept his focus on Gwen. It took about four repetitions before her breathing steadied and she no longer shook.

“This is bad,” she mumbled still pale. “This is a media circus.”

He smiled. “I’ve done much worse, Guinevere. _Much_ worse. You’re going to get through this.”

“Okay,” Gwen smiled tentatively, but tears started falling. “I just—that was a lot. And, he just made me so angry!”

“At least you didn’t punch him,” Steve said in a thoughtful voice. “God knows many of us _want_ to.”

“That’s a low bar, Rogers,” Tony rolled his eyes and pulled his daughter to his chest. “You don’t need to cry, sweetheart, you’re safe and it’s okay. I’ll fix it.”

“You mean Mommy will fix it,” Morgan piped up.

That drew laughs from Gwen and Wanda.

“I just, he’s such a _dick_!” his daughter exclaimed as she wiped her eyes and tucked her glasses into her pocket. “He can’t just—Uhg!”

Natasha snorted from the passenger seat. “Well, I don’t blame you. Nobody bad-mouths your Daddy and gets away with it, huh?”

Gwen glared and tucked herself further into his side. “He’s an asshole and Daddy is a hero.”

“An asshole,” Morgan repeated in agreement.

“Language,” Steve quipped from the driver’s seat.

“You have some fierce protectors, Tony,” Wanda smiled at him.

Steve shook his head in amusement. “I’ve heard of Daddy’s girls, but going off at an Army General in front of international powers? That’s a whole new level of—”

Gwen brought her hands up to cover her face. “Oh my god.”

“You’re gonna be okay,” Nat laughed. “Pepper will figure out how to deal with the media.”

Tony sighed. “You don’t have to defend me, Pumpkin, you know that right?”

Morgan frowned from her spot in the back. “You protect us! We protect you too!”

“I’m Dad,” he reminded her gently. “I’m the one who has the responsibility—and privilege—of worrying about your safety. You two, _and your brothers_ , don’t have that responsibility.”

“He’s still a di—dou—dumbass, god I can’t not swear!” Gwen flung herself back into the seat and glared at the tinted window. “And, I’m not sorry I told him off.”

“You’re not?” Tony asked amusedly; he really didn’t think she should be, but her reasoning behind the statement was important.

His older daughter sighed, but didn’t look at him. “Not really. I’m sorry it was in front of all of those powerful people, I’m sorry it’s all over the internet, I’m sorry it’s a _problem_ , but I’m not really sorry I pointed out how stupid he was to not listen to you. You’re great and you know what you’re doing.”

“Daddy’s the best!” Morgan chimed in and with an afterthought added. “Well, the best with Mommy.”

Wanda was in stitches next to the little girl.

Steve and Nat were openly laughing at him.

Even Gwen had a grin on her face.

“Well, she’s not wrong,” he pointed out; Pepper _was_ the first best thing that had ever happened to him and he was always at his best when he was with her.

 

Gwen wasn’t too talkative once they decided that they were going to have supper at a fancy, thankfully out of the way, French restaurant.

“You okay, Guinevere?” he asked her softly as Carol started cutting Morgan’s filet mignon into smaller slices.

His teenaged daughter blinked at him for a moment, then sighed. “I just feel like I screwed up, you know? You and Mom told us to keep our heads down, avoid making waves in the media—”

Rhodey looked at him and raised an eyebrow; asking for permission to step in.

Tony smiled and nodded, sometimes it was better to things from other people.

“Hey kid,” Rhodey said softly. “We—as your family—are always going to tell you to keep your head down, stay out of the line of fire, don’t cause trouble. That’s our job, that’s your mom and dad’s job, but when you do we’re still all gonna back you up.”

Bruce looked over from where he was talking to Wanda and Val, and smiled. “Gwen, everyone at this table has made waves and forgotten to keep their head down. It happens.”

“Especially your dad,” Nat grinned. “Got any stories, Rhodey?”

Steve glanced at Tony with a concerned expression, Barnes who was sitting next to him looked curious though, and he figured that if it made his daughter feel better, then what the hell?

“Alright, Rhodes, which one are you gonna tell? Remember, Morgan’s here,” he smirked.

Gwen took a bite of her steak and looked expectantly at her uncle.

“How about the time you destroyed Professor Engle’s office and everything in it?” Rhodey grinned.

Nat snorted. “How’d you manage that?”

“With help,” Tony admitted as the table looked at him. “We were in our, what first year? Second? Anyway, it was early on, and I hated this teacher—and I mean, I _hated_ him.”

“He hated you too, Tones,” his best friend said still grinning. “He’d do anything to knock Tony down a peg, nit-picked at the smallest details.”

“Right,” he nodded. “So, come the end of semester, right after review, I rigged this Rube-Goldberg machine in the vents leading to his office and set it off from far enough away that I couldn’t possibly have anything to do with it.”

“A Rube-Goldberg machine?” Morgan asked.

Gwen explained. “It’s an overly complicated machine to do a simple task. Like DUM-E who’s a super complicated AI, but he only knocks stuff over.”

Tony rolled his eyes; she was feeling better if she could tease him. “Right, well, it was only going to be fun to wreck his office if I _built_ something to wreck it.”

“This is just _one_ disaster involving him building in our dorm-room with whatever he could get his hands on,” Rhodey said. “So he builds this super complicated piece of machinery that basically self-destructs once its done its job, and sets it off using a radio wireless remote in the admin building after _meeting with the Dean_. Then, he ditched parts of the remote in different trashcans on campus, and comes back to the room all proud of himself.”

Maguna was smiling. “What did your machine do, Daddy?”

“Wreck havoc mostly,” he admitted dryly. “Paint on the walls, papers shredded, I think something caught fire for a while. The office, and more importantly, all of his course work, was destroyed. It was great, the damage report was amazing.”

“Did you get in trouble?” Gwen asked taking a sip of her juice.

“That’s the best part!” Rhodey laughed. “He _never_ got in trouble for _anything_ he did. Except that one time you blew a hole in the roof of our dorm-room. There was nothing you could say to get yourself out of that one.”

“Still got a lighter sentence than they’d planned originally,” he quipped.

Both of his daughters’ eyes were huge, and Morgan asked seriously, “Daddy, how did you make a hole in the _ceiling_?”

As the table erupted with laughter, Tony thought that maybe telling stories about his college days wasn’t so bad; not when it made his family laugh.

 

It was only around eight when they got back to the hotel, but most of the Team looked like they were wiped; it had been a stressful day and while they’d succeeded in getting the minor changes and compromises to the Accords settled, they still had to go in there and sign everything _in a room full of media_ the next day.

“You two want ice creams and macarons?” Tony asked his daughters as they entered their hotel suit.

“Not really,” Gwen admitted. “Can I go to bed? I just need some quiet, if that’s okay.”

“Of course it is,” he assured her; she’d been on a plane for several hours, and then had had to deal with all of the emotions of the day including a panic attack, Gwen was probably exhausted.

Maguna, however, frowned. “You promised me sweets, Daddy.”

“I did do that, didn’t I?” he told her mock-thoughtfully. “You sure you don’t want to come with us, Pumpkin?”

“One hundred percent,” the teenager smiled. “I’m gonna watch a movie, maybe call Petey—can I have my phone back?”

“Oh yeah,” he handed it back to her.

“Daddy, let’s go!” Morgan pulled at his arm. “We’ll bring you back sweets, okay, Gigi?”

“Very okay,” she grinned and walked into her designated bedroom.

 

As it turned out, getting macarons and ice cream with Morgan was one of Tony’s best experiences in Paris. Sure, they had to be careful because the media knew he was in Paris, but overall if they stuck to quiet streets and small shops, the two of them were able to walk through the city peacefully.

“Daddy,” Morgan asked as they sat by the Seine. “Why are you Iron-Man?”

He blinked; the question had come out of nowhere, she had been asking him about the Eiffel Tower and why the streets were different, and if she could learn French like Wanda all evening, _this_ was a complete change of pace.

“Daddy?”

“I’m sorry, Baby, what was that?”

“Why are you Iron-Man?” his little daughter enunciated clearly, then licked her ice cream.

“Well, I’m not really Iron-Man _anymore_ ,” he tried.

His own brown eyes rolled at him from her angelic face. “Fine. Why _were_ you Iron-Man?”

Well, he wasn’t going to distract her from this one apparently. “Ah, well, I became Iron-Man at first because I got kidnapped and was in a bad place and needed to get out.”

“You got kidnapped?” she blinked up at him.

 _Shit, I’m doing this wrong_. “Y-yeah, but it was a long time ago, Maguna. And, well, I built a suit with some help to get out of that bad place.”

His daughter nodded. “When you’re in a bad place, you build things. Mommy said so.”

Tony smiled at that; Pepper was right, he often built things to ease his stress. “Yeah, so I kind of saved myself. And then, I wanted to help other people because bad things were happening and it felt like they were my fault.”

“ _Were_ they your fault?” Morgan didn’t look worried or scared, just curious as she continued to eat her ice cream.

 _Now that was a question_. “No,” he sighed. “Well, Mommy would say they weren’t my fault, but I felt like they were because I didn’t take the time to pay attention to things.”

“Mommy’s always right,” she told him sagely.

“True, so maybe they weren’t my fault, but I felt responsible,” Tony continued. “So, I tried to fix it by being Iron-Man.”

“So you were Iron-Man because you wanted to fix things that you felt were your fault?” Morgan checked.

Tony sighed. “At first, but then I just wanted to help people. Anyone I could help, I wanted to help.”

His daughter yawned as she popped the last of her ice-cream cone into her mouth, then looked up at him with the most unimpressed face he’d ever seen on anyone that wasn’t his wife or Steve Rogers.

“Daddy, you’re a superhero because you want to help people. Why didn’t you just say so?”

That pulled a laugh from him like only one of his kids ever could, he was still chuckling when he put an arm around her and said. “Well, when you put it like that, it makes it sound so simple.”

Morgan yawned again. “But it _is_ simple. You just like to make things complicated.”

“Yeah I do, don’t I?”

 

Morgan was passed out cold when Tony got her back to the hotel suit, and tucked her into bed in the master bedroom. She had skipped along the bank of the Seine and twirled under the Paris sky to her heart’s content until the day’s excitement had finally tired her out; he hadn’t been too concerned about a late bedtime because Morgan rarely slept through the night anyway and if he got her tired enough she might actually sleep properly. That was another reason for tucking her into his own bed; he wouldn’t have to get up or worry about her waking her sister if she had a nightmare or simply couldn’t sleep anymore.

There could never be any doubt that Morgan was his child; he’d woken up several times to find her drawing or building things with her toys in the middle of the night. When he and Pepper had once asked her, at age four, why she had gotten up and taken one of the mechanical kitchen timers apart she’d responded: _‘I wake up and my head is itchy. Like inside when I’m thinking. And then my hands get itchy.’_ Pepper had had a long laugh after they’d put her to bed again. Morgan could never have been anyone else’s child.

After changing into something more comfortable, Tony stepped over to the other side of the suit to check on Gwen; it was almost midnight and they had a pretty early start the next day—even if he planned on arriving late.

“Gwyneth,” he tapped softly on the door, the light was still on. “I’m coming in, okay?”

No answer.

“Pumpkin?” his heart sped up as he opened the door.

In the center of the bed was his teenaged daughter, still in her clothes from earlier, tears running down her face as she looked up at him from her phone.

 _Oh no_. “Oh Gwen, sweetheart, you didn’t.”

She sniffed. “O-of course I did, because I don’t listen.”

He sighed and sat down next to her. “Oh Pumpkin, how bad is it?”

“Daddy,” she bit her lip and looked at him with teary blue eyes. “Am I a brat?”

Tony frowned and looked at the comments she was reading.

_Oh, so what, we’re all going to be inspired by some little rich brat whose daddy lets her say whatever she wants?_

_So let’s see, Gwen Stark gets to run her mouth at an international conference because DADDY thinks his money gives him the right to trot out his little brats wherever he wants?_

_Why are we praising this? She’s a child and has no idea what she’s talking about. She’s just been raised to think having money means people care what she thinks or, like her daddy, that it means they have to listen to her._

God, it just kept going.

 _You’re Daddy, Stark, you can handle this,_ Tony told himself as he looked into his daughter’s eyes and said, “Yes, you’re a brat.”

The shock on her face almost made him laugh.

“You’re _my_ brat,” he grinned at her. “Gwen, Princess, you’re fifteen years old. Of _course_ you’re a brat. Every fifteen year old kid is a brat with a lot of big emotions who lashes out at people who don’t see the world they do. That’s not a crime, sweetheart.”

Her brows furrowed, but he’d shocked her into not crying anymore.

“You’re always going to be my little girl, remember?”

Gwen nodded. “I remember.”

“Good, now remember this; people make choices, sometimes good, sometimes bad, but they make them and those choices have consequences. Every single person on earth has been a fifteen year old brat and has run their mouth at someone they weren’t supposed to,” Tony told her softly. “The difference is that you’re a Stark and that means that everyone is always going to be watching you, waiting for you to screw up and if you don’t then they’ll just make something up.”

The defeat on his daughter’s face hurt, but he pressed on. “But being a Stark also means that you’re _my_ daughter, and I’m your dad, so I’m always going to back you up. Always. No matter you do. Because, no matter what dumb thing you’ve done, I promise you that I’ve done worse.”

“I’m sorry I yelled at General Ross,” she told him quietly.

That made him chuckle. “Really? I’m not.”

“You’re not?” Gwen’s eyes were wide.

“No, I’m proud of you. I am never going to not be proud of you for standing up for what you believe in. Especially when what you believe in is peace and cooperation,” he wrapped an arm around her. “You’re my kid and I love you. You’re who I’m fighting for no matter where or what kind of fight I’m fighting.”

“You’re proud of me for telling someone off at an international conference?” a small smile had appeared on her face.

“Yes, immeasurably so,” he confirmed. “I’m a little disappointed you decided to look at YouTube comments, though.”

His daughter sighed. “Yeah not my brightest idea. I gave myself a headache by crying.”

“Well, I have macarons for you, if you want,” he offered.

She shook her head. “No, I think I’m gonna take a painkiller and change, though.”

Tony kissed her on the forehead. “Okay, do you want to come stay with Morgan and me?”

“I can?” she asked tentatively.

“Of course,” he told her getting up to leave.

Gwen called him back softly. “Dad?”

“Yes, Pumpkin?”

“Is it stupid that I call you ‘Daddy’ even though I’m fifteen?”

“No, sweetheart, it’s not,” he said firmly. “You can call me whatever you like and if someone says something about it you can tell them Tony Stark says for them to go fuck themselves.”

A full blown smile illuminated her face then as she laughed. “You’re not supposed to say ‘fuck’ in front of me, Daddy, remember?”

“Oh, I remember, I was just making a valuable point.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Hurry up and get ready for bed, Morgan’s got a head-start on us in the sleeping department and god knows she’ll be up at the crack of dawn,” he told her firmly before shutting the door.

While Gwen puttered around in her room getting ready, Tony slipped back into bed and pulled out his tablet. He was a mission to prove to his daughter that even though her methods lacked finesse, she was still right. That was something he knew a thing or two about.

 

“Daddy?” Gwen said softly as she slipped into the master bedroom.

On the bed her dad was sitting up with his tablet in his hands, Morg was asleep tucked into his left side and he had left enough room for her to settle in on his right, which she did. She still felt a little off about her outburst at the meeting that day; she really hadn’t meant to go off at the general, but he had been disrespectful and awful. Still, the internet backlash had made her feel so small…

“Hey Pumpkin, come look at this,” her dad said softly as he pulled her closer and showed her his STARKPad.

The screen was full of comments, hundreds of them, all saying similar things. A few stuck out to her and she couldn’t look away.

_Future leader of Stark Industries? I think yes!_

_About time someone stood up to Ross—if you want something done right, you get a woman to do it._

_Gwen Stark really hit the nail on the head when it comes to the International Accords. We need to put our differences aside and let the people willing to protect us do their jobs._

_Funny how the only one with the balls to stand up to Ross is a 15 year old girl! Well, her and Carol Danvers, I guess, but we all knew Danvers had balls._

_She’s got all of Tony Stark’s sass that’s for sure, but she’s damn well spoken for a fifteen year old! He and Pepper must be so proud!_

_I don’t know how anyone could not see this for what it is: her father went through a huge struggle to save a lot of people and then those people are turning around and bad-mouthing him? I’d be pissed too! You go girl!_

There were hundreds more, some of them shorter simply proclaiming her their hero or telling her how cool it was to see her speak out against someone who wasn’t on the side of peace.

“Oh,” was all that could really leave her mouth in that moment.

Her dad grinned back at her. “Yeah, oh. For every bad comment out there, there are going to be a hundred good ones. Think you can sleep easier knowing that?”

Gwen found herself nodding. “I think so.”

“Good, FRI cut the lights will you,” and the lights went out; she wasn’t even really sure how he managed to get FRIDAY into the hotel system. “Sleep time, Pumpkin.”

“Yeah okay,” she rolled over and curled up into the duvet, but then a thought hit her. “Daddy, what are we going to do tomorrow?”

“What about tomorrow?” he sounded tired and she felt guilty for keeping him up.

But it was going to bother her all night if she didn’t ask. “You have to go back to sign the IA, right? Are Morgan and me staying here?”

“No,” her dad sighed. “No, if you two stay here, then the media will think you’re in trouble for what you did and we can’t have that. Not when I’m proud of you for standing up to Ross.”

“You mean we’re going to have to talk to the media tomorrow?” her stomach did an unhappy flip, but sleep was much more tempting than staying awake and worrying about vultures.

“Don’t worry about it, okay? It’ll be fine, I’ll be there the whole time. I’m Iron-Man, nothing can hurt you. You believe me, right?”

Gwen nestled further into the blankets and nodded. “I believe you, but not because you’re Iron-Man.”

She was asleep before her dad replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always comments make my world go round.


	17. Paris and Hong Kong (Part 2: Hong Kong)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pepper is in Hong Kong with the boys; we find out what's up with Peter and Pepper finds out a secret the kids have been keeping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay warning: I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT CHINA. LIKE I KNOW FOUR THINGS AND NONE OF THEM ARE RELEVANT. I AM NOT TRYING TO OFFEND ANYONE.  
> Cool enjoy the chapter.

**Chapter Seventeen: Paris and Hong Kong (Part 2: Hong Kong)**

“I can’t believe she actually called Ross ‘Cadet’,” Peter laughed as he watched the video of his twin dressing-down the imperious Thunderbolt Ross in front of the entire host of the International Accords.

Harley grinned. “She’s pretty impressive, did you see how Carol Danvers defended her too? That was awesome. Captain Marvel is so badass!”

Pepper sighed; there was no way she was going to explain to the two of them that what Gwen had done was actually irresponsible, especially not when _she_ was quite proud of her daughter herself.

Her phone buzzed, she looked down to see a selfie Tony had sent her, it had been taken by Morgan who was grinning broadly alongside Carol Danvers; the caption read: _Hi Mommy I love you and Aunty Carol says hi too!_

“I have it on good authority,” she caught her sons’ attentions, “that it’s actually Aunty Carol to the two of you.”

Peter’s jaw dropped. “Y-you mean we’re pseudo-related to Captain Marvel?”

“Well,” Harley said slowly, “apparently all superheroes are related.”

Pepper laughed. “I think it has more to do with the fact that neither your father nor I has any living blood relatives. We’re building our own family; it just happens to include a lot of earth’s mightiest heroes.”

“Oh,” her eldest nodded. “That makes sense.”

Peter smiled and went back to watching videos on his phone, but his leg started bouncing the way Tony’s did right before he got up to go to the lab and Pepper knew that her younger son was about to be _very_ bored in a few seconds.

“Happy?” she called her friend.

“Yeah Boss?” he looked up from where he was slowly falling asleep.

“Did we bring the chessboard?”

Peter glanced up eagerly at that. “Chess? Wanna play, bro?”

Harley smiled boyishly. “Sure, we’re never going to be able to beat Morgan if we don’t practice.”

Happy went to the back of the plane for a moment before returning with the well loved wooden chess set that Tony kept on the jet and saying gruffly, “You’re never going to be able to beat Morgan at all. Tony’s been teaching her how to play since she could sit up and distinguish the pieces.”

With the boys entertained for a while, Pepper focused on sorting out how they were going to deal with all of the press clamoring to cover Gwen’s outburst at the UN. If the right people were in charge of damage control, maybe they wouldn’t have to do a direct press release at all and could spend the Christmas holidays in peace.

 _Maybe_.

The rest of the plane ride went smoothly, although Peter got bored of activities quickly and occasionally became anxious enough that Pepper would pull him into her arms and card her hands through his curls until the tension in his shoulders relaxed. Harley was quiet most of the journey, but he asked questions about their Chinese investors and what the meetings would be about.

“We’re almost there,” Pepper told them as the plane started to descend.

Peter sat up grudgingly but the look of relief on his face told her that he was more than ready to be out of the compact plane. “Great!”

“We’re going to supper, right? As soon as we get there?” Harley asked as he fastened his seatbelt.

She nodded. “Yes, there’s a restaurant your dad and I love to go to. We’ll go there after we head to the hotel to freshen up.”

Pepper had expected the boys to squabble a lot more than they were; Peter had been at Harley’s throat for the past few weeks and she and Tony had been unable to figure what exactly kept setting their younger son off, but they were getting along remarkably.

“What’re you doing?” Harley asked from the backseat of their rental car; Happy was driving and Pepper had elected to sit up front.

“Filming,” Peter said and Pepper turned around to see him holding his phone up to the window. “I like to document stuff so I don’t forget.”

“That’s cool, do you narrate too?”

“Yeah, I like doing the movie voice.”

Pepper tuned them out and turned to Happy, “I didn’t know Peter liked film.”

He snorted. “The kid’s always filming random stuff and taking pictures. He did it before you and Tony even adopted him.”

“We should get him more picture frames for his bedroom,” she mused.

“Yeah that’s what he needs,” Happy rolled his eyes and grinned at her. “ _More_ stuff.”

“Encouragement,” Pepper corrected. “You know you love them.”

“Oh yeah, all freaking _four_ of them,” her friend shook his head. “You realize you have so many kids that right now you have to split them up because you can’t take them all to the same place alone?”

“It’s a security issue,” she shot back. “I _could_ have chosen to bring them all—”

“No offense, Boss Lady, but you wouldn’t have gotten any work done. At least, Tony has the Avengers to keep track of his two.”

Pepper didn’t reply; he had a point and she didn’t want to admit it.

“But,” Happy carried on, “they keep things interesting and you guys are doing a pretty good job parenting three teenagers and a tot.”

She snorted. “Morgan’s hardly a tot, anymore.”

“You still carry her around more than she walks around, so she’s a tot.”

“Nah,” Peter piped up from the backseat. “Morg’s just a princess so she gets carried a bunch.”

“Stark royalty,” Harley grinned. “Oh Pete, look at that building! It’s so weird!”

Pepper smiled at their exuberance; it was nice to see her boys getting along, it was even nicer to bring a part of home away with her when she was on business.

 

“You guys get to the hotel okay? Happy talked to—” Tony was worrying. _Hard_.

Pepper rolled her eyes. “ _Yes, Tony_! Everything is fine. We’re all okay, the flight went well, we’re at the hotel, the boys are getting along, they’re in their room unpacking, right now. Everything is _fine_.”

“Sorry, I’m freaking out at you, aren’t I?”

“Big time,” she smiled. “But it’s okay because I love you.”

“I love you, too. So much. I wish you were here, we could go have dinner at the Eiffel Tower, we haven’t done that yet for some reason—”

“You could spoil the girls,” Pepper reminded him. “Take them out to somewhere fancy.”

Tony sighed. “The _girls_ want to go play paintball. We’re in _France_ , Pepper. Are they even my kids?”

“They’re definitely your kids,” she rolled her eyes. “As if you wouldn’t want to do the exact opposite of what you’re supposed to do.”

A soft crash sounded from the room across the common area of the suite.

_What are they doing in there?_

 

Peter was happy.

He was _really_ happy.

He was with his Mom and big brother in _Hong Kong_ and they were going to eat authentic Chinese food, and Pepper had offered to get him a new camera so he could take pictures. The best part, he had to admit, was being able to hang out with Harley; having a brother was nice, and Harley was _actually_ nice and not at all like older brothers in movies or on TV. He never judged him for his nightmares, he helped him with stuff, and took interest in what he did; even if it was Legos.

Peter was really going to miss him when he left for college, which was why he was so happy to spent spend time with him on this trip.

“You good with that bed?” he asked Harley as he dropped his luggage off by the bed near the window.

“Yeah, whatever’s fine,” his brother sounded distracted.

Peter looked up, confused, Harley had just been excitedly talking about what they were going to do tomorrow after the meeting with the investors.

The older boy was smiling at his phone, “Gimme five, okay? I’m gonna call Wanda.”

 _Ah_.

Harley didn’t wait for a reply as he put the phone up to his face and grinned broadly, “Hey Didi, how’s France?”

Peter felt his eyes roll and a frown form on his face; Harley was always so damn busy with Wanda. Or, _Didi,_ which was a stupid nickname. It wasn’t that he didn’t like her, he _did_ ; Wanda was nice and she was considerate, and generally fun to hang out with. But, Harley was _his_ brother and he wanted to spend time with him not have to _share_. He already had to share with the girls, this trip was going to be fun because it was just _them_.

He started putting his stuff away, but he could still hear Harley on the phone with Wanda; it wasn’t that he was trying to eavesdrop so much as they were in the same room.

“Yeah, I miss you too. I mean, we couldn’t have _all_ come to France, Didi,” Harley laughed. “Yeah, next time. It made more sense for me to come to China with Mom.”

 _Oh_ , Peter’s shoulders dropped; he’d thought Harley had _wanted_ to come to Hong Kong with him, not that it just ‘made sense’.

“We’ll get lots of time before I leave for Boston,” his brother continued to reassure the girl. “You, your mom, and Steve are coming to the house right after Christmas, right? We’ll hang then. Yeah, my room is great.”

Pete didn’t know what had gotten into him, but suddenly he felt _angry_. The drawers slammed under his fingers and he kicked his empty suitcase into the corner. He felt like crying, but also like screaming and it was _awful_.

Harley glanced over at him, but he just glared and continued throwing items into drawers.

“Hey, Didi, I’ll call you back. You have fun,” he heard his brother say.

Peter didn’t acknowledge that Harley was off the phone, he just threw the last of his stuff into the nightstand and slammed it shut.

“Pete, everything okay?” Harley asked tentatively.

“Yeah, fine,” he bit out; if he didn’t answer then he’d just keep pestering him probably.

His brother got up and walked over to him, carefully resting a hand on his shoulder. “I doubt that it’s fine. You just got really mad about something, what’s up?”

“Nothing’s up,” Peter didn’t know where the rage was coming from but he pushed Harley back, not inhumanly hard, but hard.

The older boy didn’t look phased as he stumbled, but he definitely didn’t look _happy_. “What the hell man?”

Peter shrugged.

Harley sighed heavily and said, “Whatever,” before gently pushing him back.

Somehow that was the thing that did it.

One minute he was containing his rage and the next minute that gentle shove had him tackling his brother, knocking over one of the lamps and rolling around on the hotel room floor. Harley fought back, which should have surprised Peter, but in the moment he was just angry. He didn’t want to hurt his brother, just get a point across. How was wrestling going to get that point across? He wasn’t sure, but it was better than being quietly angry.

Somehow, Harley managed to get above him and have enough time to yell, “You keep doing this; one minute you’re fine and the next you fucking hate me! Just _talk_ to me, bro.”

The words fell out of his mouth before he could stop them, too quickly for the venom in his tone to be disguised. “If you want to talk to someone so bad, why don’t you talk to _Wanda_.”

His brother froze. “Wanda? What does she have to do with any of this?”

Peter clamped his jaw shut and shoved Harley off of him. “Nothing, get off me.”

He expected more yelling, maybe another shove, but it didn’t come. Instead, Harley wrapped his arms around him and pulled him into a hug.

“Nope, talk to me. What does my friendship with Wanda have to do with you being upset, Petey?”

He rolled his eyes. “When you call me Petey it’s so damn condescending.”

“I won’t call you Petey if you tell me what’s wrong,” Harley grinned at him.

“I just—uhg, whatever,” he could feel his resolve and anger crumbling as he settled against his brother’s chest. “It’s stupid.”

“It’s not stupid if it’s upsetting you.”

“You’re taking notes from, Dad.”

“So are you,” Harley pointed out. “You’re deflecting. _Hard_.”

“Fine. You’re _my_ brother,” Peter offered up.

The older boy nodded, but didn’t release his hold. “Yeah, I am. That’s how adoption works.”

He rolled his eyes. “Well, you’re always leaving me with the girls and going to hang out with your _girlfriend_ —”

“She’s my best friend,” Harley corrected automatically and then with an afterthought. “Wait, you’re jealous?”

“I’m not _jealous_!” he said angrily as he tried to break Harley’s grip; it was ridiculous that he couldn’t given that he was _Spider-Man_!

“Sorry, sorry,” his brother said quickly. “Okay, but you’re _upset_ because I’m not spending time with you, is that it?”

“No! Maybe? I don’t know,” Peter felt so defeated. “You’re going away to college and you’re leaving me all alone, and you’re just—I just wanted to, I don’t know, _be your brother_ before that?”

Harley’s arms relaxed around him and he brought a hand up to run his fingers through Peter’s hair. “You’re _already_ my brother, Pete. You’re the best friend who can never get rid of me; that’s how siblings work.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t exactly have _experience_ , do I?” he couldn’t help but fire back.

“Guess not,” Harley mused. “Okay, well, I’m telling you that you’re my brother and that I’m not going to MIT and just ditching you. You could come and visit me, you know? Come to class with me, if you wanted. We’re still going to be together over holidays, and I’m gonna come home a lot too.”

“Promise?” he felt like such a child asking, but it made him feel better.

“I promise,” his brother agreed. “And, Wanda’s just another friend, okay? Maybe I haven’t been checking that you’re okay whenever I go out, but I’ll try to keep you in the loop, alright? She’s not replacing you or any of the girls, there are just lots of people in our lives, you know?”

“Yeah okay,” it didn’t feel so bad to be sitting in his brother’s lap with his head on his shoulder being reminded that he had a family. “That sounds good, yeah.”

 

After the fourth crash, Pepper had started to grow concerned, but Tony was still on the phone.

“So Morgan’s obsessed with macarons,” he said tiredly. “I think we have a strong contender against juice pops.”

“That could be a problem,” she laughed, another crash sounded and she moved into the living area of the suit. “How’s Gwen?”

“Handling the press with much more grace than I expected,” he admitted. “She was really nervous, but it’s working out.”

“That’s good,” Pepper sighed as she heard something heavy hit the floor. “I think I need to go, Honey.”

“Yeah?” he sounded disappointed. “I have a couple more minutes.”

Silence reigned and that was more worrisome than yelling and crashing. “I know, but I think the boys might’ve killed each other.”

“What makes you think that?”

“There was crashing and now it’s just quiet, so either everything is fine or they’re both dead,” Pepper told him grimly.

“Want backup?” her husband offered generously from his location in Paris, France.

She shook her head. “No, I’ve got it. I love you. Tell the girls I love them too.”

“I will, and we love you and the boys.”

Even though the phone call was a good ten minutes long, it felt too short.

“Boys?” Pepper called as she cautiously opened the door to their room.

It looked like a hurricane had come through; luggage was flung everywhere, clothes were all over the beds, one of the lamps had fallen to the floor, while a side table was completely on its side.

“Hey Mom,” Peter called from where he was sitting on the floor next to Harley, the two of them appeared to be looking at something on his phone.

Harley glanced up and gave her a smile. “Hi Mom.”

“Hi yourselves,” she frowned. “What happened in here?”

“It’s um—well there was—” Peter started stuttering.

“An earthquake,” Harley supplied. “There was an earthquake.”

His brother nodded vigorously. “Yeah an earthquake. It made a really big mess and shook everything. Super scary, that’s why we’re—um, on the floor.”

Pepper raised an eyebrow and gave her best ‘mom look’, “An earthquake, huh? How come I didn’t feel it?”

“You mean this didn’t happen in your room?” her eldest was decidedly the most experienced child when it came to finding excuses. “W _ei_ rd.”

Peter, however, was golden at playing along. “That’s real weird, Mom.”

She considered pushing it, but they still had a couple of days in Hong Kong and it didn’t seem worth it. “Well, now that the _earthquake_ is over; are you two okay?”

“Yeah, we’re great,” Harley grinned up at her.

“No more possible natural disasters?” she checked with Peter.

Her younger son shook his head. “N-no, we’re good. No more earthquakes anytime soon, I don’t think.”

“Great!” Pepper smiled brightly; that was one less thing to worry about, whatever was going on with the boys had apparently been resolved with minimal violence, which was really the best case aside from no violence at all. “Then if you two can get ready, we’re going to dinner!”

“Is it fancy?” Pete sighed, already guessing the answer.

Harley laughed at his brother’s expense. “It’s _always_ fancy with Mom, Pete.”

“Right.”

“Suit jackets and ties, move it!” she called as she shut the door.

 

The restaurant wasn’t actually an incredibly fancy one, nor was it one that many tourists frequented, but Pepper had loved it ever since she and Tony had first discovered it. They visited it every time they were in the city, which wasn’t often, but it _was_ often enough that the owners recognized her and were familiar with her.

“Mrs. Stark,” Mr. Ren, the owner of the establishment, said in Mandarin when he came to greet her at their table, “it is so nice to see you again. Your husband, it appears is abroad as well?”

“Yes, he is. He’s on business,” she replied easily in the foreign tongue, much to her two boys’ awe. “I brought my sons to sample your grandmother’s recipes, however.”

“Your sons,” the man smiled at the boys and said in heavily accented English. “It is nice to meet you.”

“Hi,” Peter waved a little awkwardly.

Harley smiled warmly and held out his hand, ever the polished businessman. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

“They don’t speak Chinese, I’m afraid,” she told Mr. Ren quickly.

He nodded in understanding. “I must get back to the kitchen, but please enjoy your meal.”

Peter waited until the man had left before looking over at her wide-eyed. “You speak Mandarin?”

“I do,” she nodded. “So does your father, actually.”

“I can’t even grasp Spanish,” the boy groaned as he looked at the menu. “And, this is literally Chinese to me.”

Harley snorted. “I guess I’m taking Chinese as an elective, huh?”

“It comes in handy,” she admitted. “I’ll order everything, Peter, don’t worry. Your dad and I usually get a lot of things to try, and if you need anything more we’ll just order more.”

Twenty minutes later, they had a few plates of various recognizable and less recognizable Chinese dishes.

“M-mom,” Peter said softly as he glanced at one of the plates. “I’m pretty sure the shrimp is still _moving_.”

Harley was doing his best to seem neutral about that fact, but he’d caught a glimpse of live frogs earlier and was still a little pale. “I’m sure it’s fine, Pete.”

“No,” the fifteen year old shook his head vigorously. “Not fine. Dad never gives us anything _live_ to eat.”

Before Pepper could say anything, Harley elbowed his brother gently. “Rule one.”

 _That_ got her attention. “You don’t know you don’t like it until you try it, sweetie. Besides, I’m letting you dunk it in sake first, which is the only way either of you are getting alcohol in my presence before you turn twenty-one.”

Neither of them touched the shrimp, opting for the rice instead.

“So,” she said casually taking a bite out of her meal, “what’s rule one?”

“Oh,” Harley frowned up from where he was eating. “You…you weren’t supposed to hear that.”

Peter froze chop sticks still in the air looking up at her nervously. “Nothing. It’s—ah, an internet joke? Yeah. An Internet joke.”

“That is not a meme,” she replied in dead-pan; as if she wouldn’t know what a meme was. “Boys, I _know_ your father has explicitly told you that there are circumstances under which you are allowed to lie, and _this_ is not one of them.”

“There are just rules,” Harley mumbled. “You know, so you don’t get mad.”

“What’s rule one?” Pepper asked again carefully; why were there rules so she wouldn’t get angry?

Peter looked down at his plate. “Um, it’s—um, don’t compare between—you and d-dad.”

That was new, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized that the kids often didn’t say anything in comparison about them.

Oh god, ‘so you don’t get mad’ _that_ sounded an awful lot like insecurity; Pepper took a breath and hoped against the odds that this wasn’t what she thought it was. “Okay, why is that a rule, sweetheart?”

Peter shook his head and took another bite of food.

Harley was biting his lip. “Well, we don’t want you to get angry and think we like one of you better, you know? They’re not a lot of rules and they’re easy to follow.”

“And what would happen—hypothetically—if one or both of us got upset?” _Oh no._

“Well, um—” Peter had found his voice again. “You might give us back.”

“Give you back?” Pepper blinked and looked at each of the boys in turn; their eyes were downcast, Peter’s leg was bouncing but he was trying not to fidget and Harley was biting his lip.

Her heart just broke watching them pick at their food and studiously not look at her; these were her _boys_ , they made up her world—Peter’s academic achievements were all she could talk about at the office, Harley’s business mindset that she was so, _so_ proud of. How could they think that—

“We’re never giving you back. God—hold on, there are _other_ rules?”

“Um, yeah,” Pete nodded. “A few.”

“How many? What are they?” Panic was setting in and she flagged a waiter down quickly and ordered some wine—not a speciality in this part of the world, but she needed a _drink_.

“Eight, they aren’t in order of importance actually, just you know the order we thought of them in.” Harley answered and started to list them. “Rule one is never compare, rule two is don’t complain about dinner, rule three is don’t fight in front of you or dad—”

“Rule four is don’t get in the way of your work; like by getting sick or needing anything when you and Dad are busy,” Peter continued as if he’d rehearsed them, which made Pepper vaguely nauseous. “Rule five is don’t break things; anything, in the lab or in the house.”

Pepper felt sick; it sounded an awful lot like the kids weren’t really _living_ so much as trying not to upset them by—what?—not getting sick or eating things they liked or asking for attention.

Bless the waiter and his promptness, she took a sip of wine and tried for a brave face as she asked, “What’s rule eight, love?”

“Oh that’s the easiest one,” Peter grinned. “Be nice to Morgan.”

Pepper’s heart stopped and promptly shattered. “Why is that a rule?”

“Because she’s your real kid,” Harley said like it was obvious. “If we upset her, well you mightn’t like that.”

 _I want Tony_ , she thought desperately as she looked at her two teenaged sons; her boys who were always so good and kind-hearted, who looked after each other always. “I…”

“Don’t be sad, Mom,” Peter said quickly. “Like we said, they’re not hard rules to follow. We can manage.”

 _You’re their mother_ , she told herself firmly and drank more wine. “Peter, Baby, there aren’t any rules like that.”

“What?” his confusion was devastating.

She turned to Harley and put her finger under his chin so he could look her in the eyes. “There are no rules that you need to follow in order for your dad and me to keep you.”

Both boys looked at her uncertainly.

“Please tell me you understand. Tony and I will _never_ give either of you back, you’re ours for better or for worse. We’re always going to take care of you. You don’t need to be grateful for that, that’s a given, okay? We chose to be your parents and we love you. No rules or strings attached.”

The boys still didn’t say anything.

“Repeat it back to me please,” she said firmly; she _needed_ to know they understood even if they didn’t believe her.

Peter took a breath. “There aren’t any rules to follow to make sure you and Dad keep us, you’re just always going to.”

“We don’t have to be extra good or anything for you and Dad to still want us to be your kids, you chose and you’re going to stand by that decision,” Harley said slowly as if just realizing what the words meant.

 _Now I know why Tony deflects so much_ , she sighed in what she hoped was a relaxed fashion. “Good, now how’s the food?”

“Great, actually,” Peter grinned. “I really like the rice.”

“The soup is really good.” Harley agreed.

And just to make sure that they grasped that she wanted their real opinion, she raised an eyebrow and asked, “ _Really_?”

“Yes!” they answered in tandem, grinning.

“I’m glad.”

She resolved not to think any more about their rules until later; she wanted to enjoy the time she got to spend with her sons. Goodness knew she was busy when they were back home, any time she got to spend with them was important.

They spent the rest of the meal talking about plans for after the meetings tomorrow and any sight-seeing they wanted to do. Peter was hesitant when she told him she wanted to get him a proper camera so he didn’t have to document their trip on his phone. Overall, it was a pleasant evening with her sons and she was grateful.

“How was the shrimp?” Pepper asked as she attempted to get a waiter’s attention, knowing full well that neither of the boys had touched more than one piece of it.

“Interesting,” Peter offered.

“Good,” Harley smiled winningly.

She frowned. “Boys. No. Rules.”

“Sorry, Mom,” her eldest said hurriedly, but still phrasing his reply as a question. “Um, it was weird and I didn’t like it?”

 _We really need to get this straightened out_. _Oh god, Gwen_ , Pepper desperately needed to call Tony.

Peter seemed a little more forthcoming. “I was being honest, it was interesting; weird and gross too, but interesting.”

She snorted. “I really do appreciate it when you’re honest with me, and I know your dad does as well. Alright?”

“Yeah okay,” Harley nodded and looked a little mournful. “Sorry for lying.”

“Just don’t do it again, alright?”

“We can do that,” Peter assured her.

“Great! Oh look there’s Grandma Ren,” she said as she spotted an older Chinese woman coming towards their table.

Grandma Ren was, to Pepper’s knowledge according to Tony, exactly four thousand seven hundred and fifty-two years old. She was an ancient matriarch with a sly sense of humour and a love of the two of them as a couple—she was always telling them to take care and have children, which Tony found hilarious and Pepper found mildly amusing.

“Pepper!” Mrs. Ren said in the English she insisted upon using no matter how much she and Tony told her they could understand her Chinese. “Tony is good?”

“Oh yes, very,” she nodded. “He is in Paris, right now. On business.”

“These your sons,” Mrs. Ren asked.

Pepper smiled as the woman gestured to the boys. “Yes, these are my sons; Harley and Peter.”

“Very handsome boys,” Grandma Ren smiled approvingly as the two teenagers looked at her helplessly.

She laughed, but nodded in agreement. “They take after their father.”

“Only two?” the woman continued.

If Tony were here he’d be having a hard time containing his laughter, as it were Peter was completely bewildered and Harley looked as if he were trying to grasp the woman’s meaning.

“Well, I have two daughters in Paris with Tony,” she explained patiently. “But, yes, only the two boys.”

Mrs. Ren frowned at that and pulled a parcel from her apron and handed it to Pepper. “You have more sons. Ginger Root Tea is good for making sons.”

Peter collapsed into a fit of silent giggles as Harley hid behind his hands, shielding his now very red face.

“I’ll be sure to drink it,” Pepper promised sincerely. “This is very kind of you, Grandma Ren.”

“Of course, Pepper. You give Tony my best,” and the older woman shuffled away muttering. “Very handsome boys.”

“D-did that just happen?” Harley squeaked as Peter attempted to regain his composure.

Pepper gave him a sly grin. “Oh yeah, that just happened. I thought showing up here with children would help, but apparently now I need to have _more_ children.”

“W-wait,” Peter choked. “That’s happened before?”

“Every time,” she sighed amusedly. “Grandma Ren makes the best rice in all of China, but she’s obsessed with the idea of your father having sons.”

“She wouldn’t be happy to learn we aren’t actually his sons then,” Harley frowned.

“You try telling your father that,” Pepper replied flatly. “I swear he’ll ground you so hard you’ll be dragging your feet until you’re forty-five.”

Harley had the decency to look properly ashamed of himself at that.

 

“Pep, it’s four in the morning,” Tony said softly, his voice giving away just how tired he actually was. “Is it that important? Did something happen?”

“Yes,” she felt tears running down her cheeks. “It’s not life threatening or anything, but—”

“Oh god, okay hold on, let me step out of the room. Both girls are asleep,” he whispered urgently and shushed Gwen. “It’s alright Pumpkin, go back to sleep, sweetheart.”

It took him another minute to get somewhere that he could talk to her properly. “Thank god, Morgan sleeps like the dead when she’s out.”

“Tony,” Pepper tried again; every time she shut her eyes she saw the boys’ faces as she kissed them goodnight and tucked safely into their hotel beds, reminding them over and over again that they were her kids and she loved them. “Tony, they have _rules_.”

“What?” her husband sounded confused and distressed; probably because she had called him at four in the morning crying on the other side of the world.

Pepper took a breath and explained all of the rules to him carefully. When she got to the last one, she couldn’t keep it together: ‘Be nice to Morgan’. She couldn’t help thinking back to the time Tony had brought Gwen back a trinket from Prague—where the first International Summit had been held—and Morgan had asked to look at it only for the girl to insist on giving it to her sister. She thought of Peter giving Morgan his piece of chocolate cake that he’d been saving since the night before and how her son hadn’t even thought twice about it. Pepper thought of the missed Academic Decathlon meet in November when Morgan had wanted both Tony and her to go to her dance recital and the twins hadn’t even balked, insisting that both of them go and not to worry about the meet at all. Or, the times when Harley and Wanda had wanted to sit in his room and do whatever it was teenagers did—watch videos on the internet, talk about their worries (Pepper knew for a fact that Harley talked to Wanda about his mother and sister)—and Morgan simply barged into his room insisting upon getting attention, her eldest never turned the little girl away. Ever.

Tony was silent on the other line as she sniffled and cried her way through the explanation. “God, Tony, how could we have let them go on believing that if they weren’t good, we’d give them back?”

Her husband took a shaky breath, and even without seeing his face Pepper knew he was crying too. “Well, we can’t exactly fix this individually. I don’t—god, I hope we didn’t give them any _reason_ to think that—I thought we already dealt with this shit. They’re all our kids, equally.”

“ _I know that_ ,” Pepper sighed wiping her eyes. “We need to make sure that _they_ know that. God, the look on Harley’s face when he explained that it was because she’s our real kid. Like the rest of them aren’t.”

“We’ll fix it, Pep,” Tony said confidently. “We’ll make it right. I’ll keep an eye on Gwen here, and you just take care of the boys. We’ll talk to them when we get home and make it right, I promise.”

“Yeah,” she nodded. “Yeah okay. I’m going to check on the boys again.”

He laughed softly. “I really don’t have a leg to stand on considering both girls are tucked in in the master bedroom right now.”

“No, you don’t,” she replied flatly.

“I love you, Pep.”

“I love you more, not that it’s a competition or anything.”

That drew a laugh from him and, even with all the chaos and worries about her children, Pepper’s world was a little brighter at the sound of it.

 

Peter did _not_ want to get up. Yesterday had been exhausting and his hotel bed was comfortable, besides there were stupid meetings with investors today, and he hated those with a burning passion that could serve as proof that nurture beat out nature every time—biologically, he wasn’t Tony’s son, but he definitely hated boring meetings at least as much as his dad.

“Morning little brother,” Harley shook his shoulder.

He groaned and rolled over, tucking himself into a tighter ball under the duvet. “No.”

“You really need to get up, Petey,” his brother tried again—completely ignoring the deal they’d made yesterday about him _not_ using that particular nickname. “Mom is almost ready and we gotta _go_.”

“Fine,” he really didn’t want to, but he also knew that Mom wouldn’t leave him at the hotel, which meant he’d be making her late and he couldn’t do that.

It took him all of fifteen minutes to shower, brush his teeth, fix his hair, and throw on his business clothes minus the tie he forgot how to knot.

“Where’s your tie, sweetie?” Pepper asked him as he stepped out into the living room of the suite.

He shrugged, still lethargic. “I couldn’t tie it.”

His mom smiled, “Well, bring it here and I’ll do it for you.”

True to her word, Pepper knotted the tie elegantly and in record time; she explained that she had a lot of practice getting their dad ready for press conferences.

“It sounds like dad was a lot of work to be a PA for,” Harley said as they started out the door for the day.

Mom reached into her purse as she said, “Well, he wasn’t exactly dad material back then, I’ll have you know.”

“I sort of remember the news from those days, but not a whole lot,” Peter admitted as the elevator they were in descended. “Uncle Ben used to complain about him a lot.”

“Your uncle was right to complain,” Mom laughed, she had pulled out two glasses cases and handed one to each of them; his had spider-man designs on it. “Your dad wanted me to give you these, he says they help with the nerves.”

Peter grinned as he opened the case to find some classic Tony Stark shades in it and a little note that simply said: _I love you, kiddo, say hi to KAREN for me_.

“KAREN?” he asked as the elevator doors opened.

 _Hello Peter_ , his AI said into his ear.

“Oh my god, Dad is the best!” he grinned at Pepper. “He put Karen in the glasses!”

Harley was grinning. “My glasses have a different AI, H.I.R.O. Dad thinks he’s clever.”

“What does it stand for?” Mom asked as they got into the car with Happy in the driver’s seat. “Good Morning, Happy!”

“Hi Uncle Happy,” Peter grinned as he buckled up.

Harley smiled. “Hey Hap. Um, it stands for Harley’s Intelligent Rendezvous Organizer, which seems a little degrading considering HIRO is a fully functional AI.”

“Dad definitely thinks he’s clever,” he agreed. “Still cool though!”

“Well, don’t play too much with your new toys,” Mom warned. “We still have to look professional at the meeting.”

“You mean these don’t make us look professional?” Harley asked teasingly.

Mom didn’t reply, instead she turned to Peter. “What does KAREN stand for?”

He blinked. “Oh, um, well KAREN is actually just her name. I named her when I discovered her—um, you know, by hacking my suit.”

His mom snorted at that. “Oh okay, FRIDAY doesn’t have an acronym either; she’s just Tony’s girl FRIDAY.”

“That makes sense,” Harley grinned. “I wonder if Gigi’s glasses have an AI, she never mentioned.”

“Our suits both run on Karen,” Peter frowned. “Maybe dad made her another AI because it requires a lot of processing power for an AI to keep track of a superhero.”

“We’re here,” Happy said as they pulled up in front of a tall office building. “I’ll go park the car.”

Mom thanked him and stepped out of the car quickly, they were cutting it close and she hated being late to meetings.

“Hey,” Happy stopped him and Harley as they made to follow their mom. “You two be good to your mother, alright? I know she didn’t tell you, but your dad told me these investors are total assholes so look after her in there.”

“Yes, sir,” Peter agreed quickly; he had already been keeping a close eye on Pepper this trip, being away from his dad made him kind of anxious about keeping people safe.

Harley looked like Happy had force fed him a lemon slice. “Great, asshole investors, just what we need. We’ll look after her Hap.”

“You guys are good kids, now get going,” their driver-uncle told them with a huff. “Being _here_ isn’t looking after her.”

 

The investors that they were meeting _were_ , in fact, assholes. Peter stuck by Pepper as much as possible and shook hands when necessary. He noticed that his brother was standing a little taller and was stiffer than normal, his easy grin nowhere to be found as he spoke.

“Your sons won’t be joining us for the meeting, I presume,” one of the men said nonchalantly.

Harley’s neutral expression morphed into a frown at that. “We’ll be joining you.”

“Well, I suppose, if you can follow, it will be educational.”

Pepper rested a hand on his arm, as if she sensed that Peter was about to lash out in indignation at the idea that they wouldn’t be able to understand business jargon.

“Let’s begin, shall we?” his mom didn’t make it sound like a question as she motioned for them to enter the conference room.

The meeting itself was tedious and boring; the men kept arguing for things that didn’t conform with SI values and Mom kept shooting them down, occasionally Harley would talk about why their desire to use SI as a front for their shady for-profit ideas wasn’t acceptable. Peter mostly listened and analyzed everyone’s movements; two of the men—one of them bald, and one of them with a weird scar on his chin—weren’t acting like business men so much as out of place bouncers.

They made Peter feel uneasy.

Finally, Mom seemed to have had enough. “Unfortunately, it seems that we can’t come to an agreement that respects SI’s standards as well as your desires. It’s a shame, but it appears our business dealings will have to come to a close.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Mrs. Stark,” the man didn’t sound sorry at all in Peter’s opinion. “Surely, we can keep discussing the terms?”

“We have reservations for lunch, I’m afraid,” Harley said smoothly. “We really have to be going or we’ll be late.”

“I thought Starks weren’t keen about time,” one of the investors raised an eyebrow as they stood.

Peter grinned. “Our _dad_ isn’t a fan of schedules, but Mom’s a busy woman. We’ve got other things to do today.”

“It was very nice meeting you gentlemen,” Mom said tersely and led the way out the door.

It was only when they were safely in the car that Harley said. “That was a colossal waste of time.”

“I don’t think so,” Pepper smiled. “I told you we have a second meeting today, didn’t I?”

“Yeah,” Peter sighed ruefully. “Is it going to be just as bad?”

“No,” Mom grinned. “Your dad and I wanted some information on this particular group of people so we accepted the meeting, but our Hong Kong branch is expecting us at two for a tour of the new building and maybe some input on their labs.”

“Woah! We’re getting to see the labs here?” Peter asked eagerly.

“Yes, but lunch first.”

Happy didn’t look like he was pleased with what Pepper told him about the meeting they’d just had; once or twice he mentioned that something didn’t sit right, but Mom told him that they had been fine and the men weren’t a _threat_ so much as just lousy businessmen trying to profit off of SI.

Lunch was actually really good, they went somewhere with _less_ _weird_ food and English translations on the menu.

“Can you tell us stories about, Dad, Happy?” Harley asked partway through lunch.

“Nope,” the man replied without looking up from his plate.

Peter blinked. “Why not? Did you know him as a teenager? What was he like when he took over the company?”

Mom chuckled and shook her head. “I don’t think your father would be thrilled if you took after him in his young adult years, boys.”

“Be like your mother, follow her good example and stay in school,” Happy told them seriously.

“Dad stayed in school,” Harley said as he took a sip of his water and turned to Peter. “I think?”

He nodded. “Dad has three PhDs.”

“Six,” Happy corrected.

“What?” Peter choked.

“Your dad,” his uncle repeated easily. “He’s got six PhDs and a handful of Master’s degrees.”

“Why would dad have _that many_ degrees?” Harley blinked.

Their mom smiled. “Tony gets bored, and sometimes he gets bored enough to synthesize a new element or revolutionize mechanical engineering. Never bored enough to do any work for SI, of course, but you know.”

Peter felt a little anxious at that. “H-he, um, he got six PhDs by being bored?”

Happy nodded. “I remember when he was working on his chemical engineering one, _that_ was brutal.”

“I wasn’t around then, but I can imagine it wasn’t pretty,” Pepper said knowingly.

“It really wasn’t,” the man shook his head. “I’m glad he’s done with the higher education thing. It was almost as bad as when he decided to be a superhero.”

“Why was it bad?” Harley asked curiously.

Happy waved him off, but Mom said, “Your dad didn’t handle stress very well back then.”

“He doesn’t really handle stress well, _now,_ ” Harley told her earnestly.

Happy snorted. “Oh yeah he does, he’s the picture of mentally stable now in comparison.”

He was still feeling anxious. “Wait, back up, _six_ PhDs out of boredom?”

“Your dad values education,” Mom told him. “Why do you think all four of you are going to MIT?”

“H-he doesn’t expect—” Peter felt his heart speed up. “We, um, we don’t have to—that’s a _lot_ to live up to.”

Happy, thankfully, seemed to catch on and put in quickly, “What? No. Tony’s insane and got six PhDs because _he_ wanted them. He doesn’t expect you to match that.”

“Oh,” he felt relief wash over him. “Okay. That’s—”

“Much less daunting,” Harley said helpfully.

Mom laughed. “God, I can’t imagine anyone _else_ getting that many degrees. He certainly wasn’t going about it healthily, either. No, you two can do whatever you like as long as it isn’t self-destructive. Deal?”

“Deal.”

“Yeah, okay.”

 

Their second meeting was _much_ more interesting. The Hong Kong branch of SI was a lot smaller than the New York one, but they had some cool tech and neat ideas. Peter liked their designs for new clean energy power sources and their tech division was working on surgical robots, which he thought was really cool.

“Your sons are very intelligent,” one of the men talking to his mom said while he and Harley were manipulating some of the schematics for one of the bots.

He looked up to see Mom nodding. “They take after their dad; curious and visionary.”

Peter felt his heart swell a little every time Mom mentioned how he and Harley were like their dad; she said it so easily, as if they were her biological kids and she was a little affronted that none of them had inherited her impulse control.

He was still feeling emotional when they left the building and decided they wanted to take a walk in the market district before heading back to the hotel.

He wrapped his arms around Pepper and said, “You’re the best, Mom.”

That drew a laugh from her and Peter realized why Dad said so many silly things when their mom was around; her laugh was beautiful and he loved hearing it.

 

After they stopped to get Peter a new camera, which was the most exciting thing _ever_ because he could take pictures of all of the cool things they saw, Happy left with the car to go back to the hotel and Peter, his mom, and brother walked to the market district.

It was beautiful, the sun was setting for the evening and there were lots of lights and traditional Chinese artisanal goods lining shops and stalls. There were fruits that Peter had never even heard of, and once or twice he dared his brother—with little success—to try one. Mom was enjoying herself and conversing with shop keepers about their wares, her smile was bright and he caught her looking at him or Harley with pride in her eyes more than a couple of times.

“All I’m saying is that we could buy a few of these,” Harley was gesturing to tiny remote control cars and helicopters, “and rig a much more stable RC vehicle to fly around the hotel, we could add a miniature camera, or even alter the power source—”

Mom’s grin turned into a full blown belly laugh and Peter couldn’t help but snap a picture.

“What?” his brother asked their mom indignantly.

She, however, had heard the camera shutter and frowned looking over at him. “Peter! I wasn’t ready.”

“But you’re so pretty when you laugh, Mom,” he gave her his best winning smile.

Mom shook her head and pulled them both close to her. “God, you’re both as bad as Tony. It’s those damn Stark genes—”

“That’s not how genetics works, Mom,” Harley laughed.

Peter nodded. “I don’t think either of us _actually_ have Stark genes.”

“Oh no,” their mom insisted. “You’re both, _definitely_ , your father’s sons. No doubt about that. And, _no_ , you cannot rig a spy drone using remote control toys and whatever you scrape together in the hotel suite.”

“But _Mom_ ,” Harley whined more for effect than anything.

Peter snapped more pictures of stalls, street performers, and interesting buildings. Being in Hong Kong was surreal; he hadn’t realized that he would love traveling so much. About an hour later, they’d wandered a little further than strictly necessary and Mom was getting tired.

“We should head back,” she told them frowning at her phone. “If we go this way, we can cut out three blocks.”

“That’s dark,” Harley noted worriedly.

“Hong Kong is very safe,” Pepper reminded them. “We’re only a few blocks from the hotel, we may as well walk rather than bothering Happy. He’s probably watching one of his period dramas.”

“Okay,” Peter nodded, but something in the back of his mind didn’t like the idea of walking down a dark street, even if it was only for a few minutes in a safe part of town. “Are you sure you don’t want to take the well-lit road, Mom?”

She sighed. “Yes, let’s go before it gets any _darker_.”

In hindsight, Peter blamed his Parker Luck for the whole incident because he really should’ve known better than to ignore his instincts. At the time, however, he’d been so focused on getting all three of them back onto the main thoroughfare as quickly as possible despite Pepper’s less than sensible heels, that he only noticed the guys when it was too late to do much other than step between his Mom and the knife.

“Ow! Dude, that _hurt_!” he yelled annoyed as he pushed the man off of him and punched him. “This is my favorite suit, too. You suck, this thing costs so much money my dad wouldn’t even tell me _how much_!”

“Peter!” Pepper’s worried scream brought him back to attention.

He turned to Harley. “Get her out of here!”

The second guy tried to reach Pepper, but Peter—thankfully—was faster and managed to jump on his back and get him into a chokehold.

“Go to sleep! Go to sleep! Go to sleep!” he chanted quietly until the man started growing limp.

Apparently goon one decided that now was a good time to pull out a gun because Peter heard him cock it—just before a repulsor blast went off.

“M-mom?” he looked over to see his mom with her right arm extended, hand covered in a blue gauntlet.

She looked livid. “He _stabbed_ you!”

“It happens,” Peter shrugged.

Harley, who had attempted to get between Pepper and their assailants, stepped forward and pulled the mask off of one of the guys.

“Hey, wasn’t this guy at the meeting today?”

Peter froze, he was definitely in pain and had a knife sticking out of his side and that was going to _suck_ later, but he looked over and found that, sure enough, that was scar face guy.

“Yeah, ten bucks says the guy over there is baldy,” he told his brother.

“I don’t take bets I know I’m gonna lose,” Harley shot back, but he moved towards the other unconscious goon and took his mask off. “Ten dollars to you, Pete.”

Mom was livid and on the phone with the authorities, she was yelling in Chinese, if Peter thought his mother was terrifying when he could understand her, this was a whole new level of pissed off Pepper.

She paused for just a moment to look at Harley and say in English, “Call Happy.”

Harley pulled his phone out and dialed their driver.

Peter was just about to lean back against one of the walls and close his eyes for a second when his own cellphone started ringing, he answered without looking at it as his eyes were starting to fill with tears from the pain he’d been supressing. “Hello?”

“Petey, why did Karen just alert me that you’ve been stabbed?” _Shit, Dad._

“Oh, um,” he was probably better off not lying, “because it happened. Um, the guy was going for Mom and I really couldn’t let that happen so.”

“Wait, Pepper was there?” Dad sounded mildly hysterical and he was shouting.

Peter sighed. “You’re—um, hurting my ears, Dad. Yeah, Mom has everything under control—”

“Happy’s here,” Harley pointed at the car that had somehow managed to barrel down the tiny street they were on. “I don’t know how he got here so fast, but he’s here.”

Mom was now yelling at two people in uniform in Chinese instead of on the phone.

“What’s going on, Peter?” Dad _never_ called him Peter and briefly he realized that he had probably zoned out for a _while_.

“I’m okay, it’s fine,” he tried stay focused, but the burning in his side was really starting to get to him. “Happy’s here. Mom will call you back, okay?”

“Pete, no, I need to know what’s going on. Why is your heart rate dropping?”

His head felt a little light, quickly he grabbed Harley by the sleeve and looked his brother in the eyes. “No hospitals.”

That was the last thing he remembered before everything went black.

 

Peter woke up a little while later, he wasn’t sure _how much_ later, but his side hurt like a mother—and he was on the couch in the family room of the hotel suite. Harley was sitting on the loveseat, Happy was standing by the door, he looked a little worse for wear with blood on his shirt sleeves, and Mom was on the phone.

“I’m so sorry, Tony,” she sounded really upset.

Because of his enhanced hearing, he could hear dad on the other line. “It’s not your fault, Pep. The kid has a penchant for getting stabbed and shot, he’s _Peter_ , it just happens. He’s alright though?”

“Yeah, Happy said he was just sleeping it off,” Mom was definitely crying.

“Pepper, listen to me, you are a good mother and it isn’t your fault he got hurt. God knows it isn’t your fault _I_ keep getting hurt. He’s gonna be okay, he’s got his healing factor and he isn’t going to have a massive guilt complex because neither you nor Harls got stuck in the crossfire,” Dad sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than Mom.

“I think _he_ got caught in the cross fire. God, we have another full day in Hong Kong before we fly home,” she was worried. “I think it was a hit, Tony.”

“Well, being a Stark kind of paints a damn target on your back,” Dad was beating himself up now. “You sure you can’t fly home early?”

“No, we need to meet with the board members out here,” Mom sighed. “But Happy’s not letting us out of his sight ever again so there’s that.”

“Alright, call me when Spider-Boy wakes up, I’ve got to get the girls back to bed—they’ve been freaking out since FRI woke us up.”

Peter really wanted to let someone, anyone really, know that he was awake and fine, but his body wasn’t responding and he was _tired_ , and against his will, his eyes were closing again.

 _I hate getting stabbed_.

 

Pepper spent the better part of the night watching over her youngest son and fretting. There was nothing anyone could say that would get her to stop worrying. Thankfully, the board meeting was in the afternoon of the next day, because Peter woke up around three in the morning asking for water.

“Are you okay, sweetheart? You had me so worried,” she asked as she pressed a kiss to his forehead.

Peter smiled weakly at her. “Oh my god, Mom. It was a _light_ stab-wound. It’s probably fine now.”

“You needed stitches,” she told him firmly. “And, for future reference, no stab wound is light.”

“I get a lot worse stopping petty crime in New York, Mom.”

“You probably shouldn’t tell her that,” Harley advised and Pepper looked up to see her eldest peeking out from his bedroom, at her raised eyebrow he shrugged. “I was gonna check on him.”

“You need sleep,” she told him.

Harley shook his head and moved into the living room. “So do you, but you’re not sleeping.”

“Can we all sleep?” Peter looked up at them hopefully.

Pepper shook her head; she couldn’t get rid of the feeling of her blood freezing in her veins when she realized that Peter had been stabbed. She had reacted on pure instinct and adrenaline afterwards.

“You two should sleep,” she said in the interest of not lying to her children.

“You’re not going to?” Harley frowned.

“She can’t,” Peter sighed as if he knew what was bothering her. “It happens to Dad too, when I get hurt on patrol and stuff—he sits in my room for hours, he thinks I don’t know that he stays after I fall asleep, but it’s obvious.”

Pepper had known that Tony worried over their two superhero kids a lot, frequently staying up late watching over them when they were safe in their beds, but she hadn’t realized that the _children_ knew their dad worried so much.

Harley looked a little defeated. “I think the only reason I’d get any sleep is knowing you’re going to be in the same room.”

“Why don’t we all just sleep in Mom’s room?” Peter asked looking at her expectantly. “That way I’ll be right there and we can all sleep.”

Pepper prided herself in being less of a helicopter parent than her husband; she could feed and tuck the children into their _own_ beds without having to do multiple bed checks a night. Mostly. Tony co-slept with the kids when they were sick or anxious or afraid or in just about any state that wasn’t perfectly content—with three traumatized teenagers and a five-year-old, it wasn’t an ideal situation, but he was perseverant. She thought he was ridiculous occasionally.

But, tonight, she couldn’t help admitting that she wanted her boys close to her.

“Alright, just this once,” she gave in.

Harley rolled his eyes. “That’s what you said last time, and Gigi still twists your arm sometimes.”

“Don’t make her change her mind!” Peter protested as he tried to stand on his own.

Happy walked forward at that, Pepper had almost forgotten he was in the room. “Kid, don’t. You’ll rip your stitches.”

As easily as hefting a small sack of potatoes, Peter was carried into the master bedroom and tucked into bed.

“I’ll crash on the couch,” Happy smiled at her. “Don’t worry about the kid, he _really has_ been through worse.”

Pepper grimaced at him. “Don’t remind me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully this one was alright too, it was a little harder to write, but I hope it was good! Comment make my world go round. Also I do not know when I'm wrapping this fic up, it could be soon, it could be never. Probably not never.


	18. Christmas with the Starks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone comes back home, Tony and Pepper love their kids who love each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy this one, I certainly liked writing it. Happy Christmas in July!

**Chapter Eighteen : Christmas With the Starks**

The girls crashed almost as soon as they got to the house. Morgan didn’t even comment about the snow, instead she complained and mild tantrumed her way through her quick bath and change into pajamas before falling asleep instantly on her bed. Gwen was a little more put together, she took her suitcase up to her room and stashed it in her closet before showering, throwing on what looked like Harley’s sweats and one of Tony’s T-shirts and falling asleep on the couch downstairs instead of her bedroom.

Tony was about to wake Gwen up and make her go upstairs when Pepper and the boys arrived. They carried their suitcases in and gave him quick hugs before excusing themselves to go shower and nap from their ridiculous flight. He took an extra minute to check on Pete; his kid had been stabbed two days before, he wanted to make sure he was okay.

“Dad,” Pete complained softly, but there was no real animosity in the boy’s voice. “I’m okay, I promise.”

“I know, I just worry anyway,” Tony sighed and pulled his son in for a hug. “Alright, go.”

 

Ultimately, he and Pepper convened in the kitchen while Gwen napped on the couch and the boys slept in their own beds.

“What are we going to do about the rules they’ve set for themselves?” she asked as she prepared tea.

He shrugged. “Tell them they’re unnecessary and reassure them, again, that they have a place here? I don’t really think we can do more than address it and remind them that they aren’t a burden or less loved.”

Pepper looked a little defeated when she set the two cups of tea down on the table. “Will that be enough?”

“I don’t know,” Tony admitted; there was no way to know if it would be enough, “but it’s more than my dad gave me, so maybe? Parenting isn’t easy, but doing the opposite of what Howard did? That feels like second nature.”

His wife looked torn. “He loved you in his own way, I suppose.”

“That’s not what a parent is supposed to do, though, is it?” he frowned and took a sip of the tea. “We’re supposed to meet our kids where they are and give them what they need, right? You know, this is actually pretty good tea.”

Pepper nodded. “You’re right, of course, we need to meet them where they are. I’m glad you like the tea, it’s for sex.”

“What?” he choked at how easily she said it. “Come again?”

“Oh, sorry,” she blinked up at him innocently. “It’s for sex during which you impregnate me with sons, specifically.”

Tony’s brain stopped, he felt it physically stop functioning. “You want another baby?”

“What? No, don’t be absurd,” Pepper laughed, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “Grandma Ren sends her regards. Apparently, we don’t have enough sons.”

“Ah, that makes _much_ more sense,” he nodded took another sip of his tea. “Except we can’t have an uneven number of children. So if we have one then we need to have two.”

Pepper looked at him like he’d grown a second head. “We aren’t having any _more_ children, Tony Stark. Not a single other child.”

“You’re right, of course, we have the perfect number of children. Two boys and two girls,” he tried to hide his grin. “I’m just saying, _hypothetically,_ if we were to try to have more children then we’d need to have another boy and girl to keep the scores even.”

His wife leveled him with a glare. “I’m never giving birth again, that’s a promise.”

“That’s not a ‘no’ on having more kids,” he laughed as she swatted his arm.

Tony meant to continue his thoughts on how convenient having five more children would be when he heard voices in the den.

“You told!” Gwen whispered harshly.

“Hi Gigi, it’s good to see you too,” Harley sounded like he was trying to be sarcastic, but his sister’s tone was terrifying him.

“You. Told,” she repeated. “What did you do?”

“Mom asked and we couldn’t _lie_ ,” Peter whispered back.

Pepper made eye contact with him. _Guess that’s our cue._

He nodded and walked into the living room with as much swagger as he could muster after going thirty hours without sleep. God, he needed a bed. But, the kids came first.

“Someone told,” he agreed nonchalantly as he and Pepper came into view of the three teenagers bickering on the couch.

Gwen glared at her brothers.

“How did you even know?” Peter asked her accusingly.

“Because Daddy wouldn’t let me share anything with Morg after he talked to Mom on the phone,” his daughter replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Not even things I _wanted_ to share.”

“No one _wants_ to share,” Tony put in with an eye-roll. “Why would you willingly want to give someone part of something that’s yours?”

“Because you like them?” Harley suggested brazenly.

Pepper shook her head. “We’re getting off topic.”

“Right,” he clapped his hands. “Pepper— _your mother_ —informed me that you three somehow came under the absolutely preposterous notion that there are rules you need to follow in order to remain part of this family.”

“They’re kind of obvious rules,” Gwen pointed out.

He shook his head. “They’re not real rules, Guinevere. You don’t have to follow rules for us to love you and support you. You’re our kids, we do that because we _choose_ to.”

“It’s just we don’t want to be a problem,” Peter tried.

“Our _problem_ is that you aren’t listening to what we’re saying,” Tony’s patience was wearing thin.

Pepper put her hand on his arm. “Tony, you can’t assault them with the concept of family.”

Harley was looking the both of them thoughtfully. “You—you really don’t care, do you? You don’t care if we fight or if we say we like one of you better or if we never eat what’s on our plates at dinner—you really _don’t_ care about that stuff.”

“No,” he shook his head. “We _really_ don’t.”

“We care that you feel loved and welcome,” Pepper said looking at all three of the kids in earnest. “And, we care that you set appropriate boundaries with each other _and_ with Morgan.”

“Who is _five_ by the way,” Tony butted in. “She’s going to ask for unreasonable things, it’s her vocation as a five-year-old. You can’t give her everything she asks for, especially if the stuff she’s asking for is _your_ stuff.”

“But she’s your kid,” Gwen scrunched up her eyebrows as if completely confused at the notion of setting boundaries with her little sister.

“So are _you_ ,” Pepper reminded her. “All three of you are our _very real_ kids, and you’re _very_ permanent members of our family. Imagine how upset Morgan would be if she learned that some of her actions made you sad.”

That stopped all three kids in their tracks.

_Wow, she’s good_.

“Oh, yeah, she’d be mad at us,” Harley glanced at Peter.

The younger boy nodded. “Yeah, Morg would be _pissed_.”

“Just to be clear,” Gwen looked up at him and Pepper, “we’re supposed to say no when we don’t want to give her something that’s ours?”

“You’re supposed to set boundaries,” Pepper repeated. “Morgan is five, sometimes she’ll ask for things she shouldn’t have and sometimes she’ll want cake for breakfast, which is an unreasonable request. You need to say no and explain _why_ it’s unreasonable.”

“Treat her like a five year old,” Tony tried. “She’s still learning the ropes, show them to her; she can’t just barge into rooms and demand attention, she can’t play with expensive equipment, she can’t be alone in the lab and if she wants to go when you’re busy, well you need to tell her you’re busy.”

“Reasonable boundaries,” Pepper explained. “You still love her and if you want to drop what you’re doing and go play in the lab with her, well you’re allowed to. But, you don’t _have to_.”

“So nothing changes, except sometimes I can kick her out of my room?” Gwen grinned.

Peter laughed. “She’s in _my_ room way more than she’s in yours.”

“All three of you are in my room _way_ too often,” Harley groused, but he was smiling at his siblings.

“Confirmation that you understood what we just said,” Tony cut in before they got way off topic.

Gwen nodded. “I get it; no rules, be nice to each other, but have boundaries.”

“We’re allowed to want alone time or to not do whatever someone else wants to do, and you’re never going to get mad and get rid of us,” Harley still phrased his confirmation a little too much like a question, but Tony nodded all the same.

Peter smiled tentatively. “We don’t have to worry about upsetting you with dumb _sh—sugar_ like being sick or not wanting to eat certain foods, and we can say no to each other when we don’t want to do stuff.”

Pepper smiled and Tony shrugged, “Close enough, we’ll probably have to have this conversation again, but _try_ to remember that we love you.”

“Oh we know you love us,” Peter cut in. “It’s just sometimes—um, sometimes it’s hard to remember that you won’t ever _stop_.”

God, these kids weren’t good for his heart. “Oh, well, we won’t.”

Pepper snorted. “Because that’ll convince them, Hon.”

“I got no sleep since I found out this one,” he pointed at Peter, “got _stabbed_.”

The kid had the audacity to look at his brother and say, “ _I_ _told you_ , Dad doesn’t sleep when we get hurt. It’s ridiculous.”

“What’s that supposed to mean, hm?”

“That you’re ridiculous, Daddy, but we love you anyway,” Gwen told him honestly—he could always trust her not to cut corners. “Also you look like you’ve been in a fight with the Hulk and lost _bad_. You should sleep.”

“I could go for a nap,” Pepper yawned. “Can we trust the three of you to stay out of trouble?”

“Yep,” Peter nodded and popped the ‘p’ at the end of the word.

“It’s a good thing I’m tired,” Tony groaned. “I don’t trust any of you farther than I can throw you.”

 

Tony wasn’t sure how they had gone from relaxing and much needed nap to absolute crisis mode, but he really wasn’t happy they were here. Pepper was _losing it_.

“We’re expecting twenty people between Christmas and New Year’s, the house needs to be cleaned top to bottom, all the guest beds need to be made, we need to decorate, _and_ the baking needs to happen. God, Tony, the baking,” his wife looked _stressed_.

The kids, on the other hand, looked stricken.

“Isn’t the house clean?” Peter asked uncertainly.

Morgan nodded. “It is! There’s no wires or burned stuff or _anything_.”

Gwen and Harley glanced around a little more skeptically at the thin layer of dust on the banister and the haphazard clutter in the family room.

“Okay, game plan,” he clapped his hands. “I’ll take Pete to get the tree and wreaths, you and the rest of the kids can once over the house and start on the decorating.”

“Yes!” the kid jumped up and was halfway out of the kitchen before Tony had even finished his sentence.

Pepper looked dubious. “Tony, Peter still needs to clean his room—”

“We’ll be back in time for the kid to clean his room and Guinevere can help me with the outdoor lights while he does that. Harls has totally got the decorating thing down, am I right, bambino?”

His eldest looked pretty excited, actually. “Yes sir! I _loved_ decorating with my mo—before.”

Before Tony could react, Gwen put a hand on her brother’s shoulder. “Cool, we’re gonna have so much fun!”

The subtle look his teenaged daughter sent him made him nod and turn to the baby of the family; Harley would be fine.

Morgan looked a little put out that she wasn’t going to help get the tree. “B-but—”

“You stay with Mommy, Maguna, and help her sort everything out. Okay? Petey and I will be right back.”

Their youngest child had been clinging to her mother since she woke up; a few days without Pepper always made Maguna a little anxious so Tony wasn’t particularly surprised that she didn’t put up a fight about being left home.

Pete was still bouncing up and down in his seat after fifteen minutes on the road.

“Glad you don’t have to clean the house?” Tony asked him after a bit.

“Yeah, I _really_ hate cleaning,” his son admitted.

He snorted. “Well, you’ve still gotta clean your room and probably help make some beds, but I figured you didn’t want to be caught in the cross-fire when Pep decides to—organize.”

The kid looked up at him then. “Why just me, though?”

_God, his guilt complex_. “Well, Morgan wasn’t going to leave your mom, Gwen can hold her own—she’s probably going to grab a few chores off the to-do list and vanish—she’s also been missing Mom, and Harley’s a big boy and can talk his way out of most things.”

“I was the only one without an exit strategy?”

“Exactly, figured I’d help you out because you got stuck cleaning every leaf on the fake plants or some _sh—sugar_.”

“Right,” but Pete didn’t look like he fully understood. “But, um, why didn’t you bring Gwen? She’s, um, well—she’s—you’re close—”

“She’s a complete and total daddy’s girl? Yes, I am aware of it and I’ve been informed by your mom that I’m an enabler,” Tony laughed; there really wasn’t a serious way of describing his relationship with his eldest daughter, she was a textbook teenaged girl with a rich father and believed he could do anything—she was correct of course, but that was besides the point.

“Well, _I_ wasn’t going to say anything,” Peter huffed. “But why didn’t you bring her instead?”

“I _told_ you,” he glanced over at his son and frowned. “She knows how to deal with Pepper on a warpath, I’m less keen to leave _you_ alone with your mother in that state. Also, in case you haven’t noticed, you’re my kid too. And, I love hanging out with you.”

“Right, yeah,” Pete nodded and looked out the window; the kid seemed to be trying to say something, but having a hard time. “It’s just—um—hard? I guess?”

“What’s hard, kiddo?” he asked gently.

His son took a breath. “Being me. Wait—no, I don’t mean it like that—I’m happy, really—”

“I know you’re happy, Pete,” Tony put a hand on his kid’s knee, “but that doesn’t mean stuff isn’t hard.”

Peter rested a hand on his and took another breath. “Okay, so Harley’s the eldest, right?”

“Right,” he nodded, unsure of where the kid was going, but it felt important to agree.

“Gwen’s daddy’s girl, and Morgan’s the baby,” Pete continued. “And, I’m just, well, me. The middle kid. There isn’t anything really special about me, you know?”

Tony pulled the car over.

“Dad?”

“Not special?” he asked trying to keep the accusing tone out of his voice. “Kid, Peter, you’re _my_ son. Of—fucking—course you’re special. You’re my genius chemistry nerd son who is also _Spider-Man_ , you love to help people, you’re _always_ ready to do the noble thing, you’re my _kid_.”

“Right, okay, but I don’t like classic rock like Gwen does and I’m not great with the cars—and Harley’s probably gonna take over SI because he’s a business genius, and Morgan’s still got her whole life—”

“So do you,” Tony cut in before the kid could keep spiralling. “I want you to _listen_ to me, okay? I don’t love you less because you don’t like my music, I don’t love you less because you’re better at designing targeting systems and upgrades for the suits than you are at fixing an engine. I don’t love you less because you’re not my only Spider-Kid. I love you because of who _you_ are, got it?”

That seemed to get through, at least a little bit. “So, it’s cool if I like chemistry better than physics?”

Tony rolled his eyes. “God, kid, you’re killing me. But, yes, you could even like fucking band better than physics and I would still love you.”

“Okay, Dad,” Pete looked a lot more reassured. “So, um, how big of a tree do you think we’re allowed to get?”

“As long as it can fit through the front door, we’re golden,” he grinned. “No more teen angst bubbling in that brain of yours?”

His son looked a little bashful, but nodded. “I’m okay.”

“Good, let’s go get the biggest tree they have and make Mom regret not giving us any parameters.”

Peter laughed as they pulled back onto the road. “You and Mom keep doing that.”

“Doing what?”

“Calling each other Mom and Dad in front of us,” the kid said matter-of-factly. “It’s nice, like we’re a normal suburban family.”

Tony snorted. “Aren’t we? Four kids, a fucking minivan, a three story house, bedtimes, and a house all decorated for the holidays.”

_God, when did that happen?_ _Maybe Pepper would know._

“Huh, yeah I guess so,” Peter fiddled with the radio until tacky Christmas songs started playing.

“Really, kid?”

“What? I love Christmas music!”

 

By the time they got back, the house was spotless minus Peter’s room, and Pepper promptly had a small fit about the size of the tree.

“Tony, it’s nine feet tall!”

“It’s _fine_ , Pep,” he said as Gwen and Peter struggled to get the giant tree into the base. “We have enough decorations for it. It’ll be great.”

Morgan was sitting on the couch staring open mouthed at the tree, very quietly she whispered as her siblings stepped away from the fir, “Daddy. It’s perfect.”

Tony smirked triumphantly and mouthed, _Daddy, it’s perfect!_

Pepper rolled her eyes. “Alright, we’ll decorate the tree after supper, but first Peter that room of yours needs to be cleaned, Morgan you can help with the sugar cookies in the kitchen, Harls do you want to get started on the banisters? And, Gwen, Daddy wants your help with the lights.”

They all dispersed quickly, Peter dragging his feet up the stairs to clean his room, and the others slightly more willingly to do their assigned tasks.

Gwen was a huge help with the Christmas lights on the outside of the house; spider powers were a lot more useful than Tony had originally thought. His daughter talked about everything and nothing, expressing her love for snow, her desire to take up dance again—she’d had to stop after her body dysmorphia had worsened—and how much fun she and Pepper had had dusting all of the pictures in the living room.

Harley popped his head out the front door around six to let them know that supper was ready.

“We’ll be there in a few minutes, bambino,” Tony told him. “Just need to get the rest of the lights connected, and we’ll be golden.”

“Why do we have lights if there’s no one around for miles?” Gwen asked as she plugged in the last strand and front-flipped off of the roof.

“You shave years off my life every time you do shit like that, Pumpkin,” he said seriously, but pulled her into a hug and grabbed the remote from his coat pocket. “Want to light it up?”

“Yes, please!” she flipped the switches and pushed the buttons eagerly, lighting the snow covered cabin up in tasteful red, white, and gold.

Tony thought about her question for a moment; there was no real reason to decorate the outside of the house with no one else to actually see it.

“My mom loved Christmas lights,” he said finally.

His daughter blinked up at him for a moment before the pieces fell into place. “Oh, that’s cool! I’m glad we get to do something grandma loved.”

_Grandma_. She’d said the word so easily, as if Maria Stark had naturally fallen into place in her life as her grandmother.

“Daddy?” Gwen stared at him concernedly.

Tony shook his head and grinned. “Grandma would’ve loved it, Princess. You getting cold?”

“A little,” the teenager admitted. “Spiders can’t thermos-regulate, you know.”

“That’s good to know,” he said ushering her into the house.

 

Supper was chaotic as always, Pepper wasn’t exactly a stellar cook—not that Tony ever mentioned anything—but Morgan was an amazing chef, and between her, Peter, and Harley, homemade macaroni and cheese was phenomenal.

“Hey, Dad,” Harley asked as they all moved into the family room where their giant fir tree stood. “Why is there like three hundred pounds of food in the garage?”

“Hm? Oh, because we’re having the avengers over for New Year’s,” he grimaced. “Not sure how they’re all going _fit_ in this house, but they’re all coming.”

“Even Thor?” Pete asked excitedly.

Tony sighed, he hated disappointing his kid. “What have I told you about Thor?”

His son deflated. “He’s off world and we don’t know when he’ll be back.”

“That.”

“Daddy, can we have music while we decorate?” Gwen cut in as she opened one of the boxes of ornaments.

Pepper walked in at that moment and snorted. “Oh no—”

“FRI, my Christmas playlist, dear.”

Tony grinned as Morgan started jumping up and down when the classic rock version of Santa Clause is coming to town started blaring.

His wife shook her head, but didn’t say anything as she motioned for the children to begin putting ornaments on the tree.

Tony wasn’t entirely sure when his family went from being his two best friends and his PA to being a regular suburban nuclear one, but he couldn’t have been happier. Harls and Pete took turns lifting Morgan up so she could place ornaments higher up on the Christmas tree, and Gwen sat on Harley’s shoulders at one point to position the baubles _just right_ while Peter hung from the ceiling with Morgan dangling upside down to place the star at the very top.

Pepper—Tony didn’t know when she had found the time, but she had—had found the perfect special ornaments for each kid to mark their first Christmas with them. Harley’s was a delicate golden angel in a chiffon dress, the gift had made their eldest tear up, Peter’s was a miniature snow globe with high rises in it—it set their son talking a mile a minute about which city it could be— Gwen’s was a classic car that made her grin broadly, and Morgan got a set of miniature ballet shoes to commemorate her dance classes.

It was almost eleven o’clock when they finished, the fourth round of cookies were in oven—they would likely be baking every day until the guests arrived in order to have enough cakes, cookies, and sweets for everyone—and the children were sitting at the base of the tree with a board game out laughing and rolling dice.

“When did we become two parents at the head of a perfect nuclear family, minivan included?” Tony asked his wife as they sat watching their kids debate the rules of the game.

Pepper looked up at him from where her head rested against his shoulder and smiled. “You know, I’m not sure. Sometime between meeting Harley for the first time and him coming to live with us, maybe?”

“Maybe,” he hummed in response. “Could’ve been when the Spider-Kid came into our lives.”

“Or when Morgan was born?”

“Maybe when Gwen fell out of that portal, I mean at that point I knew I was screwed.”

“It took you that long?” she laughed quietly and pressed a kiss to his jaw.

 

The next couple of days had Tony going a little mad. All he wanted to do was hide out in the garage and ignore the chaos that was the schedule his wife had decided was entirely necessary. Everyone was up at 7AM to help with the baking, prepping of the guest rooms, and wrapping of presents for all twenty guests. Somehow all four children kept disappearing whenever there was work to be done, and neither he nor Pepper really had the heart to go track them down and make them work.

By December twenty-fourth, a full two and a half days since they’d arrived home, Tony wanted to hide—maybe break—Pepper’s tablet and cancel Christmas. His children, however, were absolutely delighted about everything—even Morgan, although his daughter was a huge fan of structured time so that might’ve been why they weren’t experiencing too many meltdowns.

The banisters had been decorated with green garlands, there were pine needles hiding all over the house no matter how many times Tony ran the Roombas, the wreaths made the whole place smell like Christmas, and his children’s laughter was really what kept him going as he pushed another three cakes into the oven.

“Tony, I’m so tired,” Pepper groaned as she dropped onto one of the chairs.

“Next time, we’re having Christmas at the compound and we’re getting catering,” he agreed.

She nodded. “It’s—god, what time is it FRIDAY?”

“It is 10:33PM,” the AI responded.

“Kids need to get in bed. How is Morgan still awake? _Why_ is Morgan still awake?” his wife looked as tired as he felt.

“You go ahead and wish the kids goodnight,” he told her as he pressed a kiss to her cheek. “I’ll round them up as soon as the cakes are done and they’ll all be asleep by midnight.”

“You want to let our five year old stay up until midnight?” she asked him disbelievingly.

Tony shrugged. “If she stays up now, she _might_ actually sleep the whole night through. Especially if Gwen wants to have a sleepover with her.”

He knew she couldn’t argue with that; as much as it wasn’t the _best_ option, considering Gwen would one day leave for college, Morgan slept better when she bunked with her sister—and by better, he meant she slept a full six or so hours, his baby girl was going to be _very_ short if she didn’t start sleeping reasonable amounts of time.

“I guess,” Pepper sighed. “Alright.”

They tracked the kids down to Harley’s room, which was convenient given that it meant they wouldn’t need to actually herd their brood upstairs for baths and bed.

“Just use more tape, Gigi, it isn’t rocket science!” Pete was complaining from the other side of the closed door as they approached.

Their older daughter growled. “If it were rocket science, we would’ve figured it out by now!”

“I think we need to fold the paper, that’s what the lady in my video did,” Morgan’s little voice pipped up.

“Hold on,” Harley sounded stressed. “Gigi get a piece of tape. Morg, Petey hold these two pieces here, I think I’ve got this figured out.”

Tony chuckled as he heard his daughter grumble. “Over 800 IQ points between us and we can’t wrap a damn present.”

“Don’t come in!” Pete shouted; he’d heard their laughter.

“We won’t,” Pepper promised. “We just wanted to let you guys know that it’s bedtime soon.”

“Okay, okay!” the kid answered hurriedly.

It took another twenty minutes for whatever the kids were doing to wrap up; Tony had time to go back down and get the cakes out of the oven and lock up for the night before they were ready to step out of the room.

“Do we want to know?” Pepper asked them as she kissed each of them good night.

“Nope,” Morgan grinned and popped the ‘p’ at the end of the word.

Tony nodded. “Alright then. Well, it’s bath time and bedtime for good little girls who want new toys for Christmas.”

“F _i_ ne,” his youngest sighed dramatically.

In the end, Morgan had a bath in Tony and Pepper’s private bathroom while the other kids figured out their own bedtime routines with the third floor one—there was a washroom on the second floor, but none of the kids were brave enough to go down to use it by themselves, a fact Tony found hilarious and Pepper deemed a symptom of their trauma. He hadn’t realized how useful having full on guest suites would have been until now; there were about to be twenty-six people in a house with only three bathrooms not including the master suite.

_Problem for another day_ , he decided as he finished helping Maguna into her Christmas pajamas.

They’d already read all the Christmas stories for bedtime at seven o’clock, thankfully, so his little monster—munchkin was just about passing out when he and Pepper tucked her into her bed.

“Good night Mommy,” Morgan yawned and rubbed at her eyes. “Good night Daddy.”

“Good night sweetheart,” Pepper kissed her on the forehead and went for the door.

Tony knelt by the bed and pressed a kiss to his youngest daughter’s cheek. “Good night, Maguna. Love you tons.”

“I love you three-thousand,” the conviction that her sleepy voice held always caught him by surprise, no matter how many time any of his kids told him they loved him.

“Three-thousand, huh? Wow. That’s a lot.”

His littlest girl was asleep before they shut the door.

Pepper was smirking at him.

“What?”

“They’ve got you wrapped around their fingers,” she shook her head.

“What? What did I do—” he was cut off by Gwen bounding out of her room, hair still damp, and wrapping her arms around him. “Hello, Pumpkin.”

“Hi, Daddy,” her voice was muffled in his shirt.

“Any particular reason for the extended hug?” he asked as he tightened his own arms around her.

“Nope, just love you.”

“See?” his wife laughed. “Complete wuss.”

“How am I soft? _I love my children!_ ” he rolled his eyes; she was being ridiculous.

Pepper just kept smirking.

“Daddy, can Petey and me stay up and watch movies? Please?”

_Ah_ , he wondered absently if they really took that much advantage. “And, what kind of movies would you and your brother be watching?”

“Not scary ones?” blue eyes looked up at him innocently.

“Gwendolyn,” Pepper frowned at that.

Peter poked his head out of his own room. “Damn it Gigi, you totally dropped the ball asking in front of mom.”

“Peter,” Pepper looked offended.

Their son just smiled at her innocently.

“And what, pray tell, are you two going to do when you get nightmares because some big bad from your movies is coming to get you?” Tony asked casually as he looked down at the girl in his arms.

Gwen snorted. “Nothing can get us _here_.”

“Oh yeah?” her confidence had him curious.

Pepper shook her head, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“Daddy,” Gwen looked at him as if he were missing the obvious. “ _You’re here_. We’re not going to get got by some fictional Boogie-Man if you’re around.”

Peter nodded vigorously from his doorway. “You’re the best superhero in the whole world, no way anything can hurt us here. That’s what makes scary movies fun!”

“Let me get this straight, you’re going to watch a horror movie not because you accept that it’s fictional and can’t hurt you, but because you know it can’t hurt you because _I’m_ here?”

“Yup,” Pete grinned popping the ‘p’ at the end of his response.

Pepper met his eyes and shook her head, but her smile betrayed her.

So, he might’ve been enabling his children into believing that as long as he was around they were completely untouchable and on top of the world—well, what was the harm in _that_?

“One movie,” he said seriously. “One. Maguna will be up at some ungodly hour because it’s Christmas and if you two are sleepy I will wake you with buckets of ice water, clear?”

“Yes Boss!” they both mock saluted and made a dash for Gwen’s room.

“No getting scared, we’re locking our door,” he warned as he and Pepper moved towards Harley’s room and knocked.

“Hold on a second, Didi,” their eldest was saying before calling out. “C’min?”

Pepper opened the door.

Harley was sitting on his bed, in his Christmas pajamas, propped up against the headboard with his phone in his hand.

“Just saying goodnight, bambino,” Tony told him.

“Oh okay, goodnight,” their son smiled. “I love you.”

“We love you too,” Pepper smiled.

Tony raised a finger before his son could go back to his phone call. “The twins are watching a movie—”

“I’ll kick them off Gigi’s laptop before I go to sleep,” Harls nodded understandingly and put the phone back to his ear. “Sorry, yeah they were just going to bed. You know what Steve got you for Christmas yet?”

Tony snorted as they closed their son’s bedroom door again. “God, we’re domestic.”

“We sure are,” his wife agreed as she pulled him towards their bedroom.

True to his word, Tony locked the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I need a favor. Everyone seems to want this fic to continue and I do too, I have lots of ideas to keep writing, but they're not all super linear. In other words, if you guys want to give me some prompts, shenanigans, ideas, etc. I would be super appreciative. Anything from inventions made by the kids to superhero problems. Absolutely anything, you guys know how I write, so let me know?
> 
> Love you all so much X


	19. Christmas Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We're doing Presents with the Starks <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is early because I love this chapter :) And also because the fic hit 21k hits and you guys went out of your way with those comments and AHHHHHH! Thank you so so much for all of the love and all of the ideas <3

**Chapter Nineteen : Christmas Morning**

Christmas morning arrived far too quickly in Tony’s opinion. His dreams hadn’t been kind, which was unfortunate, but not terribly surprising and thus he found himself awake before seven o’clock. The only fortunate thing about his ordeal was that his lovely, beautiful, radiant wife was also awake by virtue of being an early riser.

“Good morning, beautiful,” he murmured against her lips as he met his wife’s eyes that were dancing with amusement.

Several kisses later, a good deal of effort to smother laughter and some—uh—other sounds, found Tony locked in a passionate embrace with the woman of his absolute dreams on top of him.

There were many things Tony Stark loved, or at least he was sure there were, but at the moment he couldn’t think of a single feeling he loved more than the weight of his wife against his chest, the soft heat of her lips against his, the mixture of teeth, tongue, and just _desire_ that always followed kissing Pepper; it was like free falling and never knowing when it was going to stop—wait no, _actual_ falling?

“Ooomph!”

He came to his senses a little too late as the two of them crashed onto the—thankfully—plush carpet floor in a heap of blankets, pillows, and limbs.

Pepper was shaking with laughter, trying to muffle it only somewhat successfully into the comforter they had dragged off of the bed with them.

Tony, himself, was in slight shock. “We—our bed is big enough for us, all _four_ of our children and then some, but we _fell out_ of it?”

“H-honey,” it took another minute for Pepper to get herself under control and sit up. “Tony, honey, I think this is a sign.”

“A sign that we should stay here and have fantastic floor sex? I agree,” he nodded resolutely as he pulled her back down; toppling out of bed or not, his wife was gorgeous and he loved her more than words could express—thankfully, he didn’t need too many words for this next part.

 

Forty minutes and an amazing shower later, they were getting dressed and piling the bedding back onto the bed when an insistent knock came at their door.

“DADDY!” Morgan made no effort to control her volume. “IT’S CHRISTMAS! MOMMY DADDY OPEN THE DOOR! IT’S CHRISTMAS!”

_Oh, right._

“We’re coming sweetheart,” Pepper laughed as she threw a housecoat over her warm teddy bear pajamas—curtesy of Morgan’s desire to have everyone wear ‘fun’ pajamas for Christmas.

Tony’s pajamas had robots on them, which all the kids thought was hysterical.

Apparently, Gwen and Peter had had a sleepover the night before because scary movies weren’t either of their forte and neither of them wanted to admit it.

“You two okay?” he grinned as the twins dragged themselves out into the hall at their sister’s insistence.

“Yeah,” Pete nodded unenthusiastically.

Gwen didn’t say anything, instead she used the only piece of ASL she knew; the sign for coffee.

“Tony,” Pepper rolled her eyes at him.

“What? I didn’t teach her that,” he defended as he rapped on Harley’s door.

The kid had impressive bedhead, but he poked his head out just a handful of seconds after Tony had knocked. “Morning already?”

“Christmas!” Morgan shouted helpfully.

“Inside voices, sweetie,” Pepper reminded her. “It’s a little early for some of us.”

“She gets this morning person business from you,” Tony groused as he picked Morgan up and started down the stairs.

“Morgan hates mornings,” Harley observed. “She gets _that_ from you. Why are so happy _this_ morning, baby sis?”

“Time is a human construct,” Maguna stated helpfully.

“I need coffee,” Gwen mumbled.

Peter was laughing at his sister. “We’re not allowed coffee, apparently it’ll stunt our growth or something.”

“Caffeine addiction is real and bad for you,” Tony told his son seriously. “I would know. FRI start the coffee, dear.”

“Already on it, Boss.”

“Do as you say, not as you do?” Pete grinned up at him.

“Exactly, kiddo, exactly,” he muttered as he set Morgan down on the ground. “Besides, you don’t need any _more_ energy.”

_Gwendolyn_ on the other hand looked like she could actually use a couple of cups of coffee, apparently the excess energy was very much a Peter thing and not a spider thing.

“Breakfast or presents first?” Pepper asked somewhat uselessly as all four children—even exhausted, angry looking Gwen—were already crowding around the tree and examining the piles of giftwrapped packages.

“Presents, _of course,_ Mommy,” Morgan grinned.

“Of course,” Pepper agreed shaking her head the way she did when _he_ did something preposterous like ask her to dinner in Venice while he was dying—god, how far they’d come.

Tony sat himself down on the floor by his kids and motioned for Pepper to join them. Peter had had the forethought to grab his camera and was taking pictures of everyone.

“Peter, I’m in my pajamas,” Pepper sighed as she tucked herself into Tony’s side.

“Mom,” Pete grinned at her and snapped another picture of the two of them. “We’re _all_ in our pajamas. It’s _Christmas_!”

“Right, how could we forget?” Tony laughed. “Alright, alright, everyone grab a present!”

The kids were pretty thrilled about the whole thing; they passed each other parcels and read out names and shook boxes to try and figure out what was inside of them.

“This one’s for Mommy!” Morgan said excitedly as she handed a little box to Pepper. “What is it?”

Pepper laughed and looked at the tag, Tony felt himself start rocking back and forth a little bit as she smiled at him and unwrapped it; he didn’t really know why giving Pepper things still made him nervous, but it did.

“Oh,” his wife’s breath hitched as she pulled the bracelet from the box.

Tony had made it, and while he was no jeweler, he had carefully designed it and hand crafted it; it was a simple titanium band with the names of all the children engraved on it and filled in with gold.

“Um, well, I know you don’t really like big things—remember the bunny disaster, so this is a _small_ thing, but—” he started to ramble, he really couldn’t help it; it didn’t matter that they’d been married for almost six years and had four children, Tony Stark was _nervous_.

She rested a hand on his arm and turned to look at him, tears in her eyes. “Tony, honey, it’s _perfect_.”

“Oh,” he froze for a second before grinning. “Well yeah, I mean, I was directly involved in the conceptualizing and actual making of it—”

She cut him off with a kiss as the camera shutter went off again.

“We’re framing that one,” Peter said as they pulled away.

“Alright,” Pepper wiped her eyes on the back of her sleeve. “Someone else open one.”

Tony was handed a small book-sized package with his name on it in Pepper’s neat script. “I’m next?”

The four kids all nodded.

“Okay then,” he tore open the paper to reveal a framed canvas and for a moment he had to blink back tears.

On it was his own grease smudged hand-print, probably stolen at some point in the garage or lab while he was working, in orange was clearly Harley’s handprint inside of his, followed by Peter’s in a blue and red swirl of color, followed by Pepper’s in her rescue blue and gold, with Gwen’s in white and Morgan’s tiny one in baby pink settled right in the middle.

Tony cleared his throat and blinked rapidly. “This is, um, this is great. Thank you.”

Harley snorted. “Real men cry, Dad.”

Morgan reached up to touch his face and somehow that broke whatever resolve he had about not crying over the photo frame.

_This_ was his family and by god did he love them so fucking much.

“It’s going on my desk in the lab,” he declared once he could breathe normally again. “Okay, please, someone else open something.”

Morgan grabbed one of her presents and ripped it open eagerly, “My turn!”

The kids’ presents were a lot less emotional, thankfully. Morgan’s haul was impressive: a new chemistry set from her parents with strict instructions of using safety measures, a new ‘women in science’ book from ‘Santa Claus’, some new dolls, a new SI tablet complete with stylus and keyboard because her old one was outdated from last Christmas, and a custom RC car that could race on walls as a collaborative project from her siblings.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” the little girl gushed as she hugged them and grinned at her presents.

Peter’s presents had made the boy go silent in awe; a new LEGO set with four thousand pieces for him and Ned to work on from his siblings who had pooled their pocket money, new camera lenses, which he was super excited about, and a new video camera fresh out of SI R&D.

“I figured you might want to toy with it some more,” Tony smiled as the boy looked at the schematics that came with the camera.

“This is so cool! Thank you so much!” Pete grinned as he hugged both him and Pepper.

Morgan reached for the camera lenses almost as soon as her brother put them down, “Can I see?”

“Um,” Peter picked them up again and held them out to her. “You can look at them, but you can’t hold them, okay? They’re really delicate and expensive.”

The little girl frowned for a moment, but then nodded. “They’re not toys.”

“No,” her brother agreed smiling. “They’re not toys, Morg.”

“Okay.”

Tony caught Pepper’s eye and grinned. _Boundaries_.

“These are for really close up pictures,” Peter explained as he held up two of the lenses. “You can help me set up some shots later, if you want, Morg.”

“Really?” Morgan looked intrigued.

Peter pulled his little sister in for a hug. “Sure, and we can print off some of the really good ones and frame them.”

“That’s awesome Petey!” their littlest girl was definitely excited about doing photography with her brother.

“My turn,” Harley declared as he pulled his pile of presents over.

The kids had made their eldest brother a scrapbook of all of their adventures together, some of the pictures were from FRI’s security footage, others had been caught on phone cameras or were even stills from videos. Each picture had a caption or a note from one of the kids. Harley subtly wiped his eyes and hugged his brother and sisters tightly.

“You guys are such saps,” he croaked.

“Yeah well, who’s bedroom are we all going to meet up in now,” Pete complained as he hugged his brother back.

Morgan looked a little mournful as she held up the scrapbook. “It’s so you don’t forget us when you go away.”

“Oh Morg,” Harley pulled her into his lap and settled her there. “I’m never, ever going to forget you, I promise.”

Gwen didn’t say anything about him leaving for college, but she wiped her eyes and grinned at her brother. “So, what did Mom and Daddy get you?”

The kid grinned and grabbed the larger box and ripped the red paper off of it. “Oh my god!”

Pepper laughed as Peter snapped a picture of his brother’s shocked expression. “Like it?”

“Like it?! Love it! Oh my _god_!”

Tony couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him too; they had gotten Harley one of the unreleased SI laptops that wasn’t meant to come out for another year. “We had it rushed so you could have it for school, bambino.”

“Thank you _so much_!” Harley looked completely floored.

“And, of course,” Tony pointed to the last box in Harley’s pile. “I think you _all_ know what that is.”

“No way,” his eldest whispered as he unwrapped and opened the little box that held a pair of keys.

“I _told_ you!” Peter said excitedly.

Harley was already shaking his head. “I—I don’t need a car.”

“If you don’t want it, I’ll gladly take it off your hands,” Gwen grinned as she swiped the keys from her brother’s hands.

Tony raised an eyebrow at his teenaged daughter. “Gwendolyn.”

“Sorry,” she handed the keys back to her brother apologetically.

Harley smiled weakly back at her. “It’s okay. But, really, you got me a _car_?”

Pepper laughed. “Yes, we got you a car, and an apartment in Boston so you don’t have to live in the MIT dorms.”

“An apartment?” Harley’s eyes went wide.

Peter looked just as excited. “Dude! That’s _awesome_!”

“It’s technically an investment,” Tony said quickly to calm the kid. “Pete and Gwyneth will be living with you when they start college too.”

“Oh okay, that’s—that makes sense,” the kid nodded more reassured. “B-but a car?”

“We _want_ to give you a car, sweetheart, okay?” Pepper told the boy softly as she reached over to rest a hand on his shoulder.

“Besides,” Morgan piped up from Harley’s lap. “You can come visit us with your car!”

“Yeah,” Peter was grinning. “And, when I come to visit, we won’t have to take the bus to class!”

“Visit?” Pepper raised an eyebrow.

“I—uh, told Pete he could come visit me at school sometimes?” Harley said sheepishly. “That’s okay, right?”

Tony nodded. “Of course it is.”

Pepper hadn’t stopped smiling since Harley had opened the laptop and she continued to do so as she told their eldest daughter. “Alright, Gwen, your turn.”

Tony knew for a fact that Gwen wanted a car for Christmas and that if she got one and nothing else she would have been over the moon. She had been vying for one ever since the kids had figured out that Harley would be getting one. Peter, in contrast, had made a point of saying that he did not, under any circumstances, want a car for Christmas. But, well Gwen was persistent, which was why Tony could tell she was reluctant to open any of the boxes in front of her.

“Okay,” Gwen took a deep breath and smiled; Tony was sure that she’d be happy with whatever she had gotten even if it _wasn’t_ a car, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be a little disappointed.

The first thing she opened was small box with a year’s pass to Broadway, once again the kids had impressed Tony with their resourcefulness and use of their pocket money—Pepper had worried that maybe they were giving them too much, but Tony knew that he’d been right; his kids were too generous and most of the money would just sit in the accounts until birthdays and Christmas anyway.

“Oh man,” Gwen grinned broadly as she hugged her brothers and sister. “Thank you so freaking much!”

“We know how much you love the dancing,” Peter said bashfully.

Harley nodded. “And the music.”

“You’re always singing the Lion King songs,” Morgan grinned. “You have a really pretty voice, Gigi.”

His daughter blushed and ducked her head before reaching for the other box. “Thanks you guys.”

Her second present contained a new robotics kit; she had exhausted the materials Tony had gotten her previously and this one had many more advanced concepts for her try out. That along with a book on robotics and one on classic car restoration made up all of her presents.

Gwen grinned broadly at the book about cars and looked up at him and Pepper with eyes filled with gratitude. “Thank you so much Mom and Daddy.”

“You’re very welcome, sweetie,” Pepper smiled and Tony worried that she was going to give the surprise away for a moment.

He smirked and held up a small box. “Well, I guess if you’re happy with _just_ that. I was thinking that this might be a cool addition to your Christmas haul.”

His teenaged daughter’s eyes widened.

“No way! You actually got her one?” Peter looked impressed.

“You sure you didn’t want a car, little brother?” Harley laughed as Gwen grabbed for the box in Tony’s hands.

Peter shook his head. “Nah, I’m good. Gigi _really, really_ wanted one though.”

“Can _I_ have a car?” Morgan asked more out of curiosity than envy.

“When you can drive, baby,” Pepper told their youngest patiently.

Morgan nodded. “Oh okay.”

“Caveat!” Tony said quickly as Gwen pulled the keys out of the box in awe. “It’s a _real_ fixer upper. It doesn’t run at all as of right now, and—”

“That’s perfect!” she jumped up with glee. “I get to build my _own_ car and make it _mine_.”

That apparently broke Pepper because she collapsed in a fit of laughter for a solid fifteen or so seconds before saying, “Tony, you can _never_ doubt that she’s your daughter.”

“I never have,” he grinned as Gwen analyzed the keys trying to determine what they were to.

“What’s Harley’s car?” Peter asked as he held up the keys to his brother’s new car.

“Oh that,” Tony grinned, “FRI wanna show us Harls’ wheels?”

“Of course, Boss,” FRIDAY replied and projected an image of the New York garage.

Tony and Pepper had spent a lot of time deciding on what to get Harley; on one hand the kid probably didn’t want anything flashy, but on the other hand they couldn’t get him like a _Jaguar_ because the media would have their heads on a chopping block about it. If they got him an Audi, then it would be all comparisons to Tony who simply loved his orange R8. Ultimately, they’d decided on a sleek, black, Maserati convertible, which _might_ not garner too much attention.

“Oh my god,” Harley said quietly as he manipulated the image.

Morgan poked at the holographic model. “It’s cool, Bubba!”

“I know,” the kid grinned. “What do you think, Petey?”

“Well, I’m no expert,” Peter laughed as Gwen was quietly whispering details about the car in awe under her breath, “but I’d say it’s pretty sweet.”

“What’s Gigi’s car?” Morgan asked glancing at the keys still in her sister’s hands. “FWIDAY?”

Obediently the image shifted to a very worn, broken down, little red convertible tucked in the corner of the garage. It was pretty small with little mirrors that stuck out on the side.

“It’s an Alfa Romeo,” Gwen whispered in awe. “It’s a _vintage_ Alfa Romeo.”

“1966 Duetto Spider,” Tony told her proudly.

His daughter blinked away tears as she looked at the rusted, broken little car, and Tony knew he’d made the right call. “I think I’m in love.”

“You are _not_ allowed to let the car take over your life,” Pepper said with finality. “If you let it get in the way of school, chores, family or friends, I _will_ ground you from the garage. Understand?”

“Yes Mom,” Gwen nodded, but Tony could tell she was already calculating what she needed to do to fix up her new baby.

“ _And_ ,” Tony added smirking, “you have to fix it up on your own dime. You wanted a car, Pumpkin, then you need to earn it. Capisce?”

“Oh totally,” the girl nodded again.

Peter frowned at that. “No offense, Bubba, but Dad—Harley didn’t _earn_ his car?”

“Your brother worked at SI with your mom for six months,” Tony told his son sternly. “I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure that’s _work_.”

“Right,” Peter nodded, his mouth becoming a thin line. “Sorry.”

“No,” Pepper shook her head. “That was a fair question.”

Gwen shook her head and smirked. “Once I get her up and running, she’ll be _mine_. I’ll have restored her all myself with my own money so no one can _ever_ take her away from me.”

_Oh no_ , Tony wanted to laugh, but instead he looked at Pepper and raised an eyebrow. _Technically, she’s right_.

“That’s true,” Pep agreed. “Once you get her up to code, she’s all yours and you can’t be grounded from her.”

“Yes!” Gwen looked like she was over the moon.

Morgan had gotten bored with them and was unpackaging one of her new dolls. “Can we eat now?”

“Yeah we can, Maguna,” Tony grinned and made to get up.

“Not yet!” Peter said quickly as he reached behind the tree to grab one more box.

Harley grinned as he took the box and handed it to Pepper. “Oh yeah, this.”

“Oh yeah!” Morgan stood up and grinned broadly still cradling her new doll.

Gwen disengaged from her classic car book and smirked. “Ten bucks says they cry.”

“Don’t take bets I’ll lose,” Harley said back, but looked at Tony. “It’s for both of you.”

Carefully, he and Pepper unwrapped the box and took off the lid.

Inside was a small art installation depicting what might’ve been a battlefield or a city in ruins, but what really took center stage were the six figures standing on the little set. On the far left was an Iron Man suit, all hot-rod red and gold, flying through the air—held aloft by almost invisible filaments—next to it, on the ground, crouching as if ready to spring into action, was Peter’s Iron Spider suit in perfect detail, next to that was a smaller Iron Man suit all pink and sparkly, obviously meant to be Morgan, with a pink, black, and white Iron Spider suit holding her hand, next to Gwen’s figurine was a black and gold Iron Man armor in a defensive position representing Harley, and beside him was Pepper’s Rescue armour with its hand extended as if to give off a repulsor blast.

The base was what really got Tony’s heart to clench and the tears to fall down his cheeks, it said: _Our Family is Ironclad._

_Oh god,_ he thought as a sob escaped his lips before he could stop himself.

He looked up to find Pepper crying just as hard as he was; the level of work and attention to detail the kids must have put into this little mock-up was incredible. Tony was pretty sure every single individual piece of armor was anatomically correct.

“Um, so the definition of Ironclad is—among other things—impossible to weaken,” Peter explained quietly as he snapped a couple of candids. “We thought you might like it.”

“Like it, huh?” Tony chuckled. “Any particular reason you four like to make your old man cry so much?”

Morgan stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. “Love you, Daddy.”

“I love you too, baby,” he pressed a kiss to her crown.

The other kids came in easily for a family group hug, and Tony met eyes with Pepper over all of their heads.

_Ironclad._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it! Thank you so much for all of the suggestions, do keep them coming if you have any new ones. I'm so grateful for all of the love this fic garners and will endeavor to make it as good as possible.


	20. Romanorogers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve, Nat, and Wanda arrive a day early to hang out with the Starks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The support for this fic has been phenomenal, I'm really grateful for all of the love and I really hope that you enjoy this chapter. It took 3 full rewrites and I'm still not super happy with it, but here it is!

**Chapter Twenty: Romanorogers**

The Stark Lake House always caught Steve a little off guard. It was smaller than most people would expect from the exorbitantly rich family—especially with four children running around now. Still, Tony loved the house and the solitude, that was much clear; it was three stories tall with only guest rooms on the second floor, a large open concept den and kitchen area, and a sizeable garage where he could hide away and do his work.

Steve thought it was remarkably domestic for the usually eccentric genius.

“This is nice,” Nat observed as she shut off the engine.

Steve nodded. “He really went all out with the Christmas lights.”

His friend—girlfriend? Companion? Partner? God, they needed to figure that out—nodded. “Tony’s always like lighting stuff up, I think it has something to do with his parents.”

He had to agree with her; it made sense, Tony liked things to be bright and ostentatious, he’d always assumed it was because the man himself was loud, but in recent years he’d come to understand his friend much better.

“You gonna wake her?” Nat jerked her head towards the backseat where their—daughter?—was asleep with her head leaning against the window.

“Wanda,” he turned around to look at the girl.

She didn’t move, but a frown appeared on her face.

“Doll, we’re here,” Steve tried again, the familiar nickname falling from his lips easily.

Wanda cracked an eye open and jutted her bottom lip out. “Doll is a stupid nickname, Steve.”

The first time she’d complained about it, he had stopped using the nickname altogether not wanting to offend her, but Wanda had cornered him one morning before breakfast and explained that the stupid nickname was endearing and _fine_. So he’d continued.

“Call me old fashioned, then,” he chuckled. “We’re still here.”

“You’re a relic, Rogers,” Tasha said amusedly. “It’s 6:45, you might be able to catch some more sleep before any of the other kids wake up.”

“Not a kid,” Wanda frowned, but pulled herself out of the SUV anyway. “I want a bed.”

“You’ll be lucky to get one,” Steve told her seriously. “Tony mentioned that he’s having trouble figuring out how twenty six people are going to fit in this house in the next couple of days.”

“We could’ve stayed in Brooklyn,” Wanda shot back dejectedly.

That caught him by surprise and he glanced at Nat, but her face read the same amount of confusion as his. What was with the attitude?

“Let’s get settled,” Tasha said instead. “I’m sure Pepper will be happy we’re here early to help.”

 

Pepper, it seemed, had already prepared everything and was just happy to have more adults around the house.

“Tony’s—somewhere,” the woman sighed as she gestured vaguely towards the house. “You three can stay on the second floor for now.”

“For now?” Wanda asked as they all moved up the stairs.

Pepper nodded. “You’ll have to bunk with Gwen once everyone else arrives, unfortunately. We’re running a little low on bedrooms.”

Steve was grateful his—Wanda—didn’t complain at Pepper, but rather simply hummed in response and went to the room she was assigned.

“It’s early,” Natasha said quietly.

Pepper didn’t look remotely fazed by Wanda at all. “Moody teenagers I can handle, don’t worry. Moody is normal, I’m more concerned about explosive rage that tends to occur when _my_ children are under stress.”

“We’ll help out,” Steve said quickly, he wasn’t sure _how_ he’d help, but he was willing to.

“Thank you,” Pepper smiled sincerely. “You two get settled and I’ll go track down my husband to make us some breakfast.”

Unprompted, it seemed, FRIDAY’s disembodied voice said, “Boss is attempting to convince Gwen to take a nap.”

“Of course he is,” she sighed and turned to them to explain. “We got Gwen a car for Christmas and she’s been obsessively reading up on how to fix it. I’m guessing she didn’t sleep last night.”

“Sounds like Tony’s kid,” Natasha laughed. “You sure you’re doing okay, Pepper?”

“I am, honestly, it’s just a little more of an adjustment now that the children are starting to feel well enough to be themselves,” Pepper explained. “We’re getting a lot more personality, which is good, but also _a lot_. We were dealing with trauma before, now it’s a challenge to figure out what’s their actual personality and what’s the fruit of them having gone through so much.”

Steve nodded; they were going through some of that with Wanda and he had no idea how to deal with any of it. She’d been a lab experiment for most of her formative years, then she was an avenger, then she was dead for five years—god, it was a lot with just one sort of kid, he couldn’t imagine what dealing with four of them was like.

Just as he and Nat were going into their room, Tony’s voice and footsteps echoed on the stairs.

“You can have this back _after_ you’ve slept, eaten, and done at least one other thing,” Steve wanted to laugh at how ridiculous it was to hear _Tony Stark_ tell someone else to take care of themselves.

“ _But Daddy!_ ” a blonde, bedraggled teenager in pajamas appeared behind Tony on the second floor landing.

“Nope,” Tony was carrying what looked like a massive textbook with the words _Alfa Romeo_ on the front. “Go sleep.”

“I did sleep!” the crossed arms and pout made the girl look all of her fifteen years. “I took a nap around one.”

“Take another one,” Tony didn’t even bat an eye.

“I don’t _want_ to,” Gwen Stark was decidedly the most headstrong child Steve had ever had the pleasure of seeing interact with Tony.

Pepper, however, had had just about enough of her daughter it seemed. “Gwendolyn, you need to sleep. We aren’t going back to the city until January second, you’ll live without the book.”

All the fight drained out of the girl for a moment before she looked at her parents with renewed fire in her eyes. “I get it back after I sleep, eat, and do _anything_ else?”

“Yes,” Tony confirmed.

“Okay,” the girl turned to go back upstairs. “Hi Uncle Steve, Aunty Nat. I’m going to bed.”

Tony shook his head as his daughter went back upstairs. “It’s like trying to convince myself I need to rest. It’s terrible.”

“You’re telling me,” Pepper complained at her husband.

Steve laughed. “How _do_ you convince yourself you need rest?”

“Protocols nowadays,” Tony admitted. “FRI shuts down if I’ve been working too long.”

“Having children helps,” Pepper added. “I’m just as much of a workaholic, but we have supper and bedtimes to think about, after 4PM it’s hard to get anything done that doesn’t involve the kids.”

Steve grinned, it sounded like both of the Starks’ worlds had suddenly begun to revolve around their children rather than their jobs.

“Sounds like you guys have got it figured out,” Tasha smirked.

Tony glanced at the tome in his hand. “Nope, not even close. Kids come with too many variables.”

Steve felt his eyes drawn to the door Wanda had disappeared behind, too many variables indeed.

 

By 8AM, all the Stark children and Wanda were seated at the kitchen table much to Steve’s surprise. Wanda, he knew, was an early riser when they were at home, but she’d been less than eager to get up when they had started the trip to the Lake House so he hadn’t really expected her up until at least nine. However, it was Tony’s kids that surprised him the most; Gwen had obviously stayed up all night and had at most gotten an hour of sleep after they’d arrived, but she was dressed and chipper while she helped a smiling, if quiet, Morgan—who Steve had heard was _not_ a morning person—cut her pancakes into manageable portions. Harley was mostly dressed, he was barefoot in jeans and a T-shirt, his dark hair sticking up in odd directions, but a smile on his face as he caught Wanda up on Hong Kong while keeping his brother’s plate filled with bacon. Peter looked a little more like what he’d expect a teenager to look like at 8AM while on vacation; still in pajamas, bedhead, wolfing down breakfast and negotiating for another hour of sleep with his parents.

“How many hours did you even get, Pete?” Tony caved after his younger son nearly fell asleep mid-bite.

“Like two,” the kid answered automatically before gulping down some orange juice and gesturing to his brother. “I don’t know how _he’s_ even awake.”

Harley looked up from his plate to frown at his brother. “I distinctly remember falling asleep somewhere in the middle of movie three, I woke up to you watching the sixth one.”

“It’s not my fault you’re weak,” Peter told his brother. “Pass the syrup.”

“ _Weak_? How are you even still alive? I’m positive you can’t fit two hours of sleep and six movies between last night and this morning,” Harley shot back as he passed his brother the bottle of syrup.

Pepper was frowning. “Peter, how much did you _actually_ sleep last night?”

Tony didn’t bother looking at his kid, instead he opted for grabbing the breakfast sausages and saying, “FRI?”

“Peter was officially asleep for forty-two minutes, Boss.”

“Snitch,” all four kids recited automatically.

Natasha snorted at that. “Sounds like you guys have a Big Brother problem.”

“If they did what they were supposed to and told the truth we wouldn’t have to rely on our AI to babysit them,” Tony told her seriously.

Steve laughed. “Wasn’t the AI supposed to babysit _you_ originally?”

Tony looked offended. “No, JARVIS was my butler not my babysitter, FRI is more of a—housekeeper than anything.”

“I take offense to that, Boss.”

“Sure you do, dear,” her creator responded. “Are you all telling me that _Morgan_ got the most sleep in this house last night?”

“Actually, Boss,” FRIDAY interrupted. “The scores stand at Peter with forty-two minutes, Harley with two hours seventeen minutes, Morgan at three hours fifty-seven minutes, and Gwen at four and hours fifteen minutes.”

“I _told you_ I took a nap,” Gwen said triumphantly.

“Three hours, Morgan?” Pepper screeched disbelievingly at her five-year-old. “What did you do for the rest of the time?”

“I needed to play robots,” the little girl told her mother earnestly between bites of breakfast.

Pepper appeared to be caught somewhere between livid and hysterical. “You _needed_ to play robots? Baby, no one _needs_ to play robots. A need is something required or essential in order to survive or be okay.”

“I know what ‘need’ means, Mommy,” Morgan responded in the most Tony-esque way Steve had ever seen in his life. “I’m _telling_ you I needed to play robots.”

“Why did you need to play robots, Maguna?” Tony asked his daughter his amusement shining in his eyes.

The little girl looked so put upon that Steve felt bad for her, even if her claim that playing robots was a need not a want was ridiculous.

“My hands,” Morgan held them up for her parents to see in frustration, “they get itchy. And, sometimes when I’m sleeping my ‘magination gets itchy too.”

Tony’s amusement faded from his face into a sort of guilty and thoughtful expression. “Itchy like you can’t stop it and you _need_ to make something or else you’re just cranky all the time?”

Morgan nodded. “You understand?”

“Like a sneeze,” Tony continued, his mouth quirking into that half-smile Steve had learned to recognize at Tony’s ‘oh, I get it,’ expression. “You _need_ it to happen or you’ll be mad about it for a long time afterwards until it can actually happen.”

“Yes!” Morgan nodded vigorously.

Pepper adopted the same air that her daughter had had before; a look of sheer put-upon-ness. “Oh my god, it’s your stupid Stark genes that are stopping her from sleeping?”

Steve couldn’t stop of the laugh that escaped him; it would make perfect sense that Tony’s absolute need to make things and fix problems came from a sheer _need_ to do so in order to quiet the voices in his head. It would also make perfect sense that his daughter would be plagued with the same need.

“Would this be a good time to point out that I _did_ sleep and I _need_ my book back,” Gwen put in as she popped the last of her breakfast into her mouth.

“No,” Pepper ground out.

At the same moment, Tony nodded. “Yes.”

“Well those weren’t mixed signals or anything,” Harley laughed. “I vote Pete has to go back to bed because he got under an hour.”

“Pete _wants_ to go back to bed,” Pepper frowned.

“Mommy, you _always_ want all of to sleep,” Morgan sighed dramatically.

Pepper sighed and turned to her husband for support, which Steve wasn’t entirely sure was the best plan given that he was fairly certain the man himself was running on less sleep than half of his kids.

“Everyone needs to be dressed and functional by eleven o’clock, deal?” Tony said instead of bothering to fight with anyone specifically anymore. “Gwen you can have your book back if you can prove that you’ve done all of the things I asked you to do.”

“Well,” the teenager said slowly as she stood up. “I just ate, I slept last night for more hours than anyone except mom, _and_ I showered and got dressed—that counts as two things that are _anything other than reading_ , right?”

Natasha grinned at that. “She’s got you there.”

“It’s on the mantle,” Tony told his daughter with a noncommittal snort. “How’s a nap sound, Maguna?”

Morgan didn’t look terribly pleased, but she turned to her father and asked, “With Daddy cuddles?”

“I think I can manage that,” her dad agreed.

“A nap sounds good.”

Pepper sighed. “Peter you can go back to bed until eleven.”

“He’s already asleep, Mom,” Harley chuckled as he poked his brother. “He might actually be dead.”

“I can float him upstairs,” Wanda offered as she proceeded to clear the table of empty dishes telekinetically.

Steve felt a surge of pride at her newfound desire to start using her powers again; it had been a long road to help her realize that she wasn’t simply a weapon of destruction, but rather a gifted individual with free will to do with her gifts as she pleased. And, that included helping people.

 

It took him until after lunch to really notice it, but Steve was certain that Tony’s kids were keeping an eye on their dad. Harley was the first one to make it truly obvious that they weren’t just showing up in the same room as Tony because they happened to need something, which had been Steve’s first assumption because the house wasn’t _that_ big and there were a lot of children in it.

Harley walked right up to Tony completely ignoring everyone else in the kitchen and said, “Dad?”

Tony, apparently seeing nothing wrong with the kid’s behaviour, turned to look at him from where he was cutting sleigh shaped cookies and said. “Bambino? You okay?”

“Yeah, fine,” the kid wrapped his arms around his dad’s waist completely unprompted and rested his head on Tony’s shoulder. “Was just—around.”

Steve didn’t know too much about teenaged boys, but he was pretty sure most of them didn’t randomly hug their dads in the middle of the day.

“Alright then,” Tony shrugged hugging his son. “Well, while you’re here, do you need anything? Water? Food? Directions to Wanda?”

That last one had the kid snorting and pulling back. “No, I’m good. I already drank water, lunch was an hour ago, and Wanda’s upstairs with Morg.”

“Sounds like your whole life’s in order, buddy,” Tony grinned and turned back to the cookie sheet.

Harley rolled his eyes. “Sure. I’m going back upstairs.”

The kid didn’t wave or even look at anyone else before he walked right back out of the room.

Nat frowned. “Are you sure he was okay?”

“Yeah he seemed a little off,” Steve agreed looking to where Harley had wandered off.

“Oh he’s fine,” Pepper assured her and went to pull a tray of cookies out of the oven. “They just do that sometimes.”

“Do what?” Tony seemed completely oblivious to his son’s strange behaviour. “Kid was totally fine.”

 

It happened again, about forty minutes later, when Morgan wandered into the kitchen locked eyes with Tony and said, “Daddy?”

“Yes, Maguna?”

“Nothing,” and the five year old promptly walked back up the stairs.

Steve raised an eyebrow. “What was that about?”

Tony shrugged. “You know when you walk into a room and forget what you wanted?”

He nodded.

“It was probably that.”

Steve didn’t pry, but Morgan had seemed to have gotten whatever she had wanted from the interaction she had with Tony.

 

The third time it happened, Steve was worried someone was going to have a panic attack. He and Tony had decided to go look at his motorcycle in the garage because he couldn’t figure out what had made it stop running.

“I’m usually alright at fixing it myself,” he told Tony as they looked at the holographic projection FRIDAY had made so Tony could manipulate the bike more easily.

“Don’t worry about it, Rogers,” his friend waved him off. “I’m just happy for an excuse to come down here without having to twist Pep’s arm. It’s been her mission or something to keep all of us out of the lab for the holidays.”

He laughed. “Is it working?”

“Not really, but the garage isn’t as well stocked as the lab in New York is so the kids sometimes sneak stuff up to their rooms,” Tony answered as he started pulling parts off of the holographic motorcycle.

Steve was actually very partial to the garage; it wasn’t anything like what he had expected. In truth, he’d expected to feel uncomfortable in Tony’s place of work like he always did; the genius usually worked in chaotic laboratories with robots and screens all around. Steve always felt like he was going to break something. Tony’s garage was chaotic like the labs, but things seemed sturdier and it was much more open concept. There was also a plush rug and a leather couch on one side, Tony’s holographic workbenches and a sturdy looking metal table were in the center of the room, and off to the other side were various vehicles and extra super suit parts.

“I like it,” he admitted.

That got Tony’s attention. “Yeah? Me too. It’s not as high tech or elaborate as my other places, but it’s—ah, it’s a good place to teach the kids.”

“You teach them how to build suits?” Steve’s eyebrows shot up; he’d thought that Pepper would be against that sort of thing.

“Mostly how to maintain their suits,” the genius explained. “They need to be able to take over if anything ever happens to me. And, even if Gwen’s our classic car nerd, all of the kids like the cars and need to know how to change at tire and put together an engine. They also have ideas; you heard Morgan earlier, sometimes it’s just an itch and you’ve gotta build.”

“Sounds like they have a lot of fun here.”

Tony nodded, he looked a little whistful. “It’s not just the fun they have here, though. It’s—you know that moment when we looked up at the sky and realized how damn small we were? One little blue dot in a sea of outer space.”

“Yeah,” Steve nodded, that had been a terrifying moment.

“Well, being here watching my kids learn, make mistakes, grow, when they say ‘dad look at this’—god, the amount of times I’ve heard that—it’s all that feeling; I’m the most insignificant person and a thousand feet tall all at the same time,” Tony gestured vaguely with his pen in hand, but he turned and looked Steve in the eye with something he couldn’t quite place. “My kids call me ‘dad’ all the time now, even Harley, and every time they do it just floors me.”

Steve smiled, he didn’t _really_ understand what his friend meant, but Tony was happy and if he knew anything about Tony Stark, he knew that the man deserved to be happy.

“It sounds like you’re in the best place you can be, Tony.”

“I am, aren’t I?” the genius turned back to the physical bike. “And, I think I know what’s wrong with your hunk-o-junk over here.”

“Hey, easy, she’s top of the line!”

Tony snorted. “I could make her fly.”

“Don’t you dare, Stark.”

“Is that a threat?”

Steve meant to reply when a panicked voice cut through their conversation.

“Daddy?” Gwen sounded _afraid_. “Dad? Daddy?”

“In here, Princess,” Tony called as he moved towards the stairs. “Gwen, sweetheart, I’m in the garage.”

Frantic footsteps preceded the harried teenaged girl as she barreled straight into her father.

“Hello, Pumpkin,” Tony said quietly as he wrapped his arms around her, his focus completely and solely on his daughter. “Did something happen, sweetie?”

“No,” Steve made out the slight shake of her blond head and her muffled words. “Just couldn’t find you.”

“Oh, well, I’m here,” was all Tony replied.

Gwen pulled back and smiled up at her dad. “Hi, Daddy.”

“How’s my little girl?” her dad replied, and Steve got the sense that this was a common reset for the two of them.

“Better, but Mom said we can’t watch TV and, apparently, I’m reading too much,” the eye-roll and exaggerated sigh were all Tony, but somehow in young, blond female form.

Tony huffed a laugh. “Do you want to help me and Uncle Steve out with his bike?”

“Not really, but can I stay?”

His friend didn’t seem fazed at all by the girl’s request. “Sure, you gonna go get your book?”

“Yup,” Gwen popped the ‘p’ at the end of the word and shot Steve a grin before disappearing again.

Steve wasn’t really surprised when the teenager spent the rest of the afternoon in the garage. It _did_ surprise him that she didn’t try to help or even build something on her own; she’d simply parked herself on the couch with her headphones and book, and tuned the both of them out completely.

Gwen’s attitude vaguely reminded Steve of Wanda’s general vigilance when it came to Natasha and himself. His not-quite-daughter wasn’t as obvious about her monitoring of their activities, but she kept tabs on them in a similar way. Wanda had a routine; she would wake up just before Steve left on his morning run and move from her bedroom to the couch, then she would check on Nat—Tasha had told him about it or he would never have found out—and when he returned she’d help him prepare breakfast. All throughout the day, Wanda would be in the public spaces of their apartment or, when they were at the compound, in the same room as one of them.

Still, Steve wasn’t sure if it was just a coincidence; after all, Gwen Stark had been almost panicked when she’d been unable to find her father. He doubted Wanda would react the same way if he were a few minutes late on his run or if something came up.

As if summoned by his thoughts, Wanda poked her head in the garage. “Oh hey.”

“Everything alright, doll?” Steve asked as he handed Tony a screwdriver.

“Yeah fine, just wandering around,” she answered and promptly turned back around and left.

Maybe it wasn’t so dissimilar, after all?

Tony certainly didn’t seem phased by Wanda’s sudden, if brief, appearance in his workspace.

 

Peter showed up about two hours after Gwen had taken up residence on the couch, and twenty minutes after Morgan and Harley had walked into the garage, asked Tony a few random questions about robotics, and walked out again.

The kid simply strolled into the garage and set himself up at one of the workstations with his camera bag.

“You alright, Underoos?” Tony looked over at his son.

Steve found it interesting that Peter, who was usually an anxious kid, wasn’t actually talking to Tony, but rather just watching him.

“Yeah, fine,” Peter smiled. “I just wanted to work on my camera.”

Tony looked intrigued. “You gonna take it apart?”

“Play with it first,” the kid responded as he started up the holographic workbench. “I want to know how it works so I can make it better.”

Tony walked over to the kid and put an arm around him. “You’re a kid after my heart, Petey.”

“Aren’t we all?” his son snorted. “Weren’t you helping Uncle Steve?”

“I was, but the problem’s fixed and your uncle is anti-fun and won’t let me make his bike fly,” Tony complained.

Peter blinked at that. “You want to make his bike fly? Like Hagrid in Harry Potter?”

“Sure,” Tony shrugged. “Flying motorcycle.”

“Not happening, Stark,” Steve shot back as he pushed his bike back into the corner to be picked up when he and Nat were leaving. “I like my wheels firmly on the ground.”

“God you’re old fashioned,” Tony complained.

That made the kid laugh. “Well, I don’t want my camera to shoot repulsor beams or whatever, Dad.”

“I would never!” Tony’s mock offense drew another chuckle out of the boy. “Actually, I’m really interested in what you’ve got kicking around in that big brain of yours.”

Steve left the father and son to their own devices. On his way out, he briefly noticed that Gwen had actually fallen asleep on the garage’s couch; her eyes were closed, her glasses were askew and the giant tome she’d been carrying around was resting open on her chest.

He thought about telling Tony that his daughter had passed out, but from the quiet tones in which he was talking to Peter, Steve was sure the man already knew.

Still, it was very strange the way the Stark children kept such a close eye on their father; maybe something was wrong with Tony and he wasn’t telling anyone?

 

Steve didn’t get a chance to ask anyone about his concerns until about nine o’clock when Pepper came back downstairs after Morgan had been put down and the older kids had decided to start settling in for the night. Nat had just gone up to the guest floor, which was much less grand than Steve had expected; four guest bedrooms and a bathroom on the second floor, to shower and prepare for bed.

“Tony’s still upstairs trying to get Peter to put down his camera and Gwen to give him her car repair book,” Pepper sighed as she set the kettle to boil. “We should’ve held off on some of the presents until after the holidays, I think.”

Steve laughed. “They’re Tony’s kids through and through, huh?”

“You have no idea. It’s a miracle any of them sleep through the night instead of working in the garage,” she sounded exasperated, but the smile on her face betrayed her happiness. “But, they’re good kids and they love each other—even if they’re starting to drive each other up the wall and turning into normal teenagers.”

“Normal teenagers are the best we can hope for, I’m told,” he said jokingly. “Wanda’s her own kind of special sometimes.”

“I bet,” Pepper grinned. “How’re you all doing?”

“Good,” he told her honestly. “It’s been an adjustment, but we’re in a good place right now, I think. Nat and me, we’re—it’s good, Pepper.”

“I’m glad,” Tony’s wife definitely had a gift when it came to not prying. “She’s a lot happier than I’ve ever seen her, and—well, given what you all went through—”

“What _we_ went through, don’t discount yourself,” Steve said seriously; he didn’t want her minimizing her trauma, Pepper deserved better than that for all she’d done for them. “You were right there with us on the front lines the whole time, Pepper. You mightn’t have actually gone back in time, but you worried and suffered along with all of us.”

“Thank you,” she shot him a grateful smile as she fixed herself a cup of tea. “Do you want some? I find camomile helps me find rest.”

“I won’t say no.”

It took him another few minutes while she fixed the tea in silence, occasionally asking him if he took sugar or milk, to gather his thoughts. He was just working up the bravery to ask when she sat back down, set his cup in front of him and promptly beat him to it.

“Steve, you’re worrying.”

“Sorry,” he ducked his head. “It’s—is Tony alright? He’s not sick or dealing with anything that’s—that’s got you all worried?”

“What?” Pepper’s eyebrows creased. “No, no, Tony’s in perfect health. FRIDAY would’ve warned us otherwise. What brought this on?”

Steve shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

“Steve,” her tone was dangerously close to worried and he didn’t want to be the cause of undue stress.

“It’s just the children, they’re—well, they’re checking on him every hour give or take five minutes,” he admitted, he’d started timing their appearances after Harley’s sudden appearance in the kitchen. “I was just wondering if he was sick, you know? That would make them worried.”

“Oh,” Pepper actually chuckled. “No, Tony’s fine. His heart’s weak, but that’s always been the case as you know. The kids worry because he’s their dad, it’s worse right now because we were all traveling so the boys are a little more antsy than usual.”

Steve nodded, but frowned; it was odd for children to suddenly be anxious about their parent’s well-being. “They just worry about him? Just like that?”

“It’s the trauma,” she sighed. “When he’d first get back from missions, I wouldn’t be able to leave him. I always needed to be in the same room. I actually moved into the mansion in Malibu because I needed to be in the same place as him and know he was safe. The kids, they’re just experiencing that to a lesser degree.”

“I didn’t even think of that, Pepper, it must’ve been—well, it must’ve been hell for you,” he said softly, his heart broke for what their family had had to go through.

“It’s better now,” she told him with a smile and then laughed. “When he first got back after the decimation, then again after the blip, I’d sit outside the bathroom door until he came out. I couldn’t be away from him at all. But it got better, it keeps getting better.”

“You’ll never have to deal with that again,” Steve found himself promising sincerely.

Pepper shook her head. “Oh I will. Maybe not from Tony, but I’ve got two vigilante children—one of which was dubbed an Avenger while in _space_. I’ll tell you, it never gets boring around here.”

“You’d hate it if it did,” Tony came through the kitchen doorway carrying a camera bag and Gwen’s book from earlier. “These are sitting on the table until tomorrow morning or they’re both grounded until next Christmas.”

“Harsh,” Pepper smiled. “How much of a fight did they put up?”

“God, I’d face Thanos again than go up against the two of _them_ again,” Tony laughed. “You alright there Capscicle?”

Steve snorted. “Yeah, fine, Tony. Just fine.”

 

Later, he couldn’t help but replay the conversation he’d had with Pepper in his head: _It’s the trauma._

Could Wanda be experiencing similar trauma? The battle with Thanos hadn’t been pleasant for any of them, but she hadn’t had any nightmares afterwards—at least, not that she had shared. But then, why would she have shared?

It had occurred to him that he never deviated from his morning run routine, and that when they had moved back to the compound from Brooklyn, Wanda had been much more on edge in some ways.

_Is she keeping tabs on us_?

“Steve, for the love of _god_ , spit it out,” Tasha grumbled as she rolled over to face him. “You’re thinking so loud I can practically hear it.”

They had gone to bed a good half hour ago and Nat wasn’t ever one to forgo any rest she could get; it was a not-so-well-kept secret that the notorious Black Widow was _not_ a morning person. By all accounts, Natasha should have been asleep by now.

“Steve,” she tried again.

He sighed. “It’s just something I noticed today.”

“Yeah?” Nat sounded a little impatient, but she was _trying_ and he had to give her credit for that; she’d gotten up at three the day before.

“Did you notice how Tony’s kids—um, keep an eye on him?” he tried to sound casual about it.

“You mean the way all of his kids are always keeping track of where he is? Yeah, I noticed,” Natasha snorted. “It’s probably because he’s their primary care giver; he’s home with them all the time, picks them up from school, makes them breakfast, and stuff.”

“Pepper says it’s because of the trauma the four of them have been through,” Steve continued. “And, it—uh, well, they reminded me a little bit of Wanda.”

That got her attention.

“Wanda?”

“Yeah, I never really thought about it, but she has a routine when we’re at home; she always knows where we are, what we’re doing, what we’re going to do—and, when we first moved back to the compound, she didn’t really go anywhere alone,” he said thoughtfully. “It was just something I noticed.”

Natasha blinked at him, surprise written all over her face. “You mean, it just occurred to you that our traumatized kid might be acting like a traumatized kid?”

“Well, it’s not like I know what trauma looks like, Tasha,” Steve defended. “Wanda’s always been her own sort of special, I never really questioned if I was supposed to _do_ anything about it.”

Nat shook her head and proceeded to burrow into the blankets. “You think too much, Rogers. Wanda’s a traumatized kid, she’s lost more in the last couple of years than most people lose in their entire lives. She’s coping. You’re not supposed to do anything about her. She’s keeping an eye on us because we’re her new normal and she’s waiting for us to go up in smoke like everybody else.”

“Oh,” that was a sobering thought. “But we’re not.”

“I know that,” Natasha rolled her eyes. “We just need to stick around long enough for her to know it too. Now, for the love of god, please go to sleep. If you wake up after she does tomorrow, you’re going to find out what happens when you disrupt Wanda’s routine.”

_Right_ , he took a breath and put an arm around her. _Just be consistent and dependable, I can do that._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading, your support means everything to me. I have a couple of quick questions if you'd indulge me:  
> 1) how does everyone feel about the fic becoming more episodic after chapter 25?  
> 2) Thoughts on a pregnant Pepper?  
> Any and all comments and suggestions are welcome as long as they're kind :)  
> See you guys soon with 21


	21. Overcrowded and Overwhelmed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Starks have twenty house guests and drama ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so so much for all of the love and support! I hope you like this chapter, we get some Peter drama and fluff, and Shuri makes an appearance ;) Sorry it's a little later in the day!

**Chapter Twenty-One : Overcrowded and Overwhelmed**

Tony was losing his mind.

Twenty-six people in a nine—which had apparently been at least four too many according to Pepper—bedroom house with only three public restrooms was a nightmare. And, three people were still missing!

“All our kids could just use our bedroom’s ensuit,” Pepper suggested as they stepped out of their room. “That way Clint and Laura could at least have the upstairs one for them and their kids, plus Wanda and Cassie.”

“God, that’s still too many people and not enough,” Tony groaned. “We should’ve given up. Why did you let me do this?”

The look his wife gave him had him back-peddling _very_ quickly.

“ _NOT_ that this is your fault in any way, shape or form, Honey.”

“Uh-huh,” Pepper nodded. “Well, it _is_ happening and we are just going to all have to deal with it.”

“That’s going to go well,” he grumbled as he moved towards Gwen’s bedroom. “Pumpkin, you alright?”

A moment later, their blonde child stepped out of her room grinning. “Yep, everything’s great.”

“Are you sure?” Pepper pursed her lips. “I know sharing space is really difficult—”

“No,” Gwen shook her head. “Everything is great, don’t worry about us, okay?”

“There are going to be five of you in there,” Tony frowned. “I think we can—”

His eldest daughter shook her head. “No, Daddy, everything is fine. It’s just me, Wanda, Cassie, Lila, and Shuri when she gets here. It’ll be great, like a sleepover.”

“For four days,” Pepper reminded her.

Gwen shrugged. “It’s fine, there’s plenty of space in the house. We’re only actually sleeping in the rooms anyway.”

Tony wasn’t convinced, but three of Gwen’s four guests were already settling into the bedroom and there wasn’t any yelling or general bedlam coming from behind the door.

“Alright, if you say so,” he sighed and turned to Peter’s door where there _were_ muffled yells being heard. “On a scale of one to ten, how badly do I _not_ want to open that door?”

“Seven,” Gwen informed him seriously. “Oh, I think the Wakandans have arrived. SUV just pulled up.”

“Great, _more_ people,” Tony groused.

Pepper glared at him. “They’re _your_ friends.”

“We’re never having another party for as long as I live,” he whined as the three of them descended the stairs.

“Don’t say that, Daddy,” Gwen grinned. “She might actually hold you to it.”

“ _You_ don’t think this is a disaster?” he asked, surprised; Gwen was their reserved and introverted child—not that any of their children were particularly extroverted, but the point still stood.

“Oh no,” she shook her head. “This is a code red, DEFCON one scenario, but I’m just rolling with it because if not I’d be face down in the snow.”

“That’s very mature of you,” Pepper smiled at their daughter.

Gwendolyn made a face that was decidedly not mature. “I still hate it and will probably be upset later. Please don’t hold me to that standard.”

Tony snorted; she was a girl after his own heart.

The king of Wakanda, his genius sister, and the notorious White Wolf were standing in his entryway holding several gift bags and suitcases.

“Welcome,” Pepper was all smiles and perfect hostliness—if that was even a word. “We’re a little short on space, but we’re so glad you’re here!”

Gwen snorted.

Tony went for the smile instead, after all, they _were_ glad to have all of their friends under the same roof.

“T’challa! It’s so good to see you, Buddy.”

The King smiled. “Stark, it’s always a pleasure.”

“You guys are the last ones so the party can officially start,” Tony grinned as he led the party into the rest of the house. “Den is over there, kitchen is that way, the stairs lead up to the other two floors where there are bedrooms and bathrooms. Now, unfortunately, we’re _really_ short on space because this is our family home so you and Barnes will be sharing the den with Bruce and Wilson.”

It was at that point that the falcon himself decided to make an appearance. “Hold up, you’re a billionaire with actual billions of dollars and you’re making the _king_ of Wakanda sleep on your couch?”

Pepper looked like she was about to turn into a tomato, but Tony shrugged. “Should’ve arrived earlier or brought your girlfriend, that would’ve bumped you up to room privileges. Besides, it’s a great couch.”

T’challa laughed. “I don’t mind at all, Tony. It’s an honour to be invited to your family gathering at all.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, you’re an avenger that makes you family, and also my kids love you,” he grinned and glanced at his wife; the king’s general easy going nature had thankfully made her relax. “Have you met my wife formally?”

“I haven’t had the pleasure,” T’challa smiled. “It’s wonderful to meet you Mrs Stark.”

“Pepper, please,” she told him automatically. “We’re really happy to have you.”

Shuri looked as though she was going to explode, she was all but vibrating every time she and Gwen made eye-contact.

“Alright, alright,” Tony smirked. “Shuri, you probably already know this, but you’re bunking with the girls in Gwen’s room. It’s on the third floor.”

As if finally dismissed from a formal meeting the two girls collided in a slew of internet references and greetings all at once. Tony didn’t think he’d ever seen his eldest daughter act like _more_ of a teenager than in that moment.

“Okay, let’s go upstairs so you can tell us _everything_ ,” Gwen grinned and grabbed Shuri’s bag. “By the way, do you want floor, bed, or loft?”

“You made her a loft?” Pepper rounded on him before he had a chance to defend himself.

Tony shook his head. “No! Of course not, she didn’t _ask_ for one!”

His wife sighed. “Please make yourselves at home, Natasha can help you sort out the bags, FRIDAY can you please get Nat?”

Not even five seconds later, their favorite redheaded assassin stepped into view grinning. “You called Ms. Potts?”

“Stark,” Tony corrected automatically. “Could you help his highness and Barnes out? We’ve got a—potential loft related crisis upstairs.”

“Loft related crisis?” Nat raised an eyebrow but was motioning for the men to follow her.

Bucky’s lip curled into a slight smile. “Only at your house, Stark.”

Pepper laughed. “Isn’t that the truth. Please feel free to ask anyone including FRIDAY if you need anything at all. Our home is your home.”

T’challa smiled at that. “You are very kind.”

“It’s the least we can do,” Tony grinned. “It’s actually literally the _most_ we can do with the space we have here. Prepare to get to know everyone _very_ well.”

Pepper smacked his arm, but started upstairs towards the girls’ room and the potential horrors that lay there.

 

As it turned out, Gwen hadn’t bothered to ask her parents for a loft, but had simply built one using webfluid and whatever she had on hand. It was a decent loft, all things considered and maximized all of the space in her small bedroom.

Tony watched as his wife went through all five stages of grief before she said, “Is it structurally sound?”

All five teenaged girls turned to look at him.

“It looks pretty sturdy,” he admitted. “It’s held in place properly, lots of triangles for stability—has anyone been in it?”

“It can hold all five of us,” Gwen said proudly as the girls clambered onto the bed and let Wanda float them up to the loft that was hanging from the ceiling. “I just haven’t perfected a way to get _down_ yet.”

“Oh is that all,” Pepper sighed, Tony figured she was about to explain why Gwen’s loft wasn’t up to code when she was interrupted.

“HARLEY STOP FUCKING TOUCHING MY STUFF!” Peter’s rage filled voice echoed through the halls from behind his mostly shut bedroom door.

 _Shit_. “Girls, the loft looks great as long as no one falls out of it,” Tony said quickly as he pulled Pepper out of the room.

“What is it gonna do? Explode?” Cooper was asking excitedly. “Having Tony as a dad must be awesome!”

Pepper shot him a long suffering look.

“No it won’t explode,” Harley shot back defensively. “Dad never lets us have stuff that can blow up in our rooms. He’s awesome, but responsible!”

 _Except when I don’t bother to check what the four of you sneak into your bedrooms from the garage_ , Tony thought worriedly.

“PUT IT DOWN GENTLY!” Peter continued to yell at his brother frantically; whatever Harley had touched was definitely a potential explosive.

“Pete, calm down,” Harley and his common sense had clearly suffered a divorce as he wasn’t picking up on the urgency in Peter’s voice. “I just wanted to look at it.”

Tony reached for the doorknob as Pete’s frustration continued to rise. “Look with your eyes! Put it down gently!”

Just as the door opened all the way, a small explosion rocked the bedroom. From what Tony could see, no damage had actually been done to the children, but there were a few pieces of metal embedded in the walls and a smoking piece of technology lay on the floor at Harley’s feet.

“HOLY SHIT!” Cooper’s eyes were wide with shock.

Morgan, of course, chose that precise moment to appear in the hallway with Nathaniel close behind her and ask, “We can say ‘shit’ again?”

“No,” Tony and Pepper said quickly whilst glaring at the older boys.

Peter looked like he was on the verge of tears and Tony needed to deal with that as soon as possible or they were all going to have a miserable time.

Morgan frowned and said, “That’s bull,” before taking Nate’s hand and walking into her bedroom.

Pepper sighed as she stared after their daughter. “Five going on fifteen.”

Tony glanced at the boys inside the room and the impending Peter meltdown. “Fifteen going on five.”

“You take them and I’ll take her?” his wife asked; dividing and conquering was probably the best solution.

“I’ve got this,” he nodded and stepped into Pete’s bedroom.

The boys, even Pete for some reason—Oh, he’d snuck a potentially explosive device into his room and that was supposedly an offense—looked thoroughly ashamed of themselves.

Tony sighed, sorely wishing Pepper had chosen to stay with him. “Would someone care to tell me why it is that there are _five_ girls in the room next door, but somehow it’s the _three_ of you that can’t share twice the space?”

Cooper, who Tony loved under every other circumstance because he was a witty and clever teenager, didn’t know when to stop talking because instead of letting the question be rhetorical, he responded.

“Well, they’re girls. So they’re organized and shit.”

_God give me patience; I don’t think I can be held accountable if you give me strength._

“I will personally provide your mother with industrial level soap and watch her wash your mouth out with it, if I hear another curse from you, young man,” Tony didn’t even care how old he sounded in that moment; they’d made a lot of progress with Morgan.

“Sorry, sir,” Cooper clamped his mouth shut after that.

Peter was staring at him with tear filled doe-eyes and hadn’t said a word; Tony knew that the kid was about to cry and he _really_ needed to clear the room.

Harley, however, had finally patched things up with his frontal lobe and started apologizing. “Shit, shit, shit! I’m so sorry Petey, I really didn’t mean to break it!”

The younger boy promptly found his socks very interesting and responded quietly, “Just—just get out. And, stop fucking touching my stuff.”

Tony didn’t bother reprimanding either of his sons for swearing, instead he pointed to the door.

“Um,” Harley glanced at him nervously. “I—uh told Cooper I’d show him the garage, is that okay?”

“No,” he replied flatly. “No garage. And, if you two break anything else in this house you’re sleeping in the snow. Capisce? Go make yourselves useful in the kitchen.”

“Yes sir,” both boys replied and hurried down the stairs.

Tony let out a deep, very Stark, sigh and shut the door.

His younger son looked up at him with tear stains on his face before going to sit on the bottom bunk of his bed.

It took a little bit to coax Peter into a good solid hug, but Tony was well passed bottled up feelings and repressing vulnerability. His child needed comfort and he was there to offer it.

“I’m sorry,” Pete mumbled into Tony’s shirt after a few minutes of just hugging and breathing. “I didn’t mean to yell.”

“That’s okay, I think you were pretty justified,” he smiled a little.

His kid let out another shuddering breath. “I just needed—just some space, you know?”

“Space from people who come into your room and break your stuff? Yeah, I would too, kiddo. You know, the first time I had to share a dorm room—it was with Rhodey, thank god—I nearly throttled him for breaking my first DUM-E prototype,” he could still vividly remember the mostly irrational rage he’d felt as his best friend apologized for knocking over the original robot.

“It wasn’t stable,” Peter frowned as he sat up a little, not fully letting go of him.

“No,” he agreed. “But, it could have been. Let’s see if we can fix it, yeah?”

“Yeah, okay,” his son smiled and got up to start fishing various bits of metal out of the walls. “Mom is gonna be mad about the holes in the walls.”

“You let me worry about that,” he told him with a grin. “Now, where do you hide your robotics supplies, kiddo?”

Pete snorted. “You’re the genius, don’t you already know?”

Tony stuck his arm under the bed and pulled the clear plastic bin out into the middle of the floor. “Under your bed, really, kid?”

“Mom never bothers looking there,” his son smirked as he sat cross-legged by the box. “We’re going to have to rebuild it almost entirely from the ground up.”

“Figures, your brother really did a number on it, huh?” Tony frowned as he sat down on the ground next to him. “This is why we don’t make you guys share.”

“Because we break stuff?”

“No, because you’re all so brilliant, if we didn’t give you each your own space you’d get in each other’s way all the time.”

Peter didn’t look up as he started pulling parts out of his robotics bin. “Looks like we do it anyways.”

 

It took a bit for the kid to get over his anger at the destruction of his project. It took long enough that Tony had actually figured out what his son had been working on before the kid started chattering on about Ned and MJ, school, and Spider-Man.

Sitting on the floor with his son, working on a project, was definitely up there in terms of the best things about being Tony Stark. He’d never fully grasped what Howard had meant when he’d said that Tony was his greatest creation; his father had been harsh and absent. In contrast, the time that Tony got to spend with Peter was precious, and teaching his kid how to effectively configure a make shift arc-reactor on his bedroom floor with not enough parts was one of the happiest moments of his life.

This kid, this amazing boy who would grow into a great man, was his greatest accomplishment. Tony had no doubt about that.

“So what’s this for kiddo?” he asked his son as they finished the miniature power source they’d been working on.

Peter laughed, “Like you don’t already know.”

“I have some theories,” Tony admitted. “What _are_ you trying to power?”

“A drone,” Pete said nervously as he unlocked one of his desk drawers and pulled an opaque plastic box out of it. “Well, sort of.”

Tony was surprised to find the kid pulling out an Iron Man model similar to the one the kids had made for their little art installation that now sat proudly on the mantle in the living room.

“I—uh—we made lots of them, this one was too big for the mock-up so I kept it,” his son explained. “I wanted to see if I could turn him into an actual robot with a working arc-reactor and thrusters and everything.”

“That’s really interesting, Petey,” he’d been suspicious of the need to make an arc-reactor type power source, but he hadn’t quite gotten to the point where he thought his son was making a flying robot. “You’ve only had a few days to work on it too. How far along are you?”

“Not far,” the kid said quickly. “Mostly I was studying how to make the arc-reactor because that’s really difficult—and actually almost blew up in my face.”

Tony nodded and gestured to the power source in Peter’s hands. “Well that’s not _exactly_ an arc-reactor since we’d need a little more—”

“Oh I know,” his son smiled. “It’s just, making them is really _your_ thing and I wanted to see if I could do it and then make a toy for Morg too.”

That drew a laugh from him. “I’m sure Maguna will appreciate him once you’re done.”

“It’s just—um, like she said before; sometimes my imagination gets itchy,” Pete smiled. “We should pack up and free Harley and Cooper from Auntie Laura’s wrath in the kitchen.”

“You sure? He broke your stuff,” Tony wasn’t really one to let anyone off easy, _especially_ when it came to one of the very few rules in their household: _Keep your hands to your own projects unless told otherwise._

Peter shook his head as he piled wires and tools back into their respective places in his chaotic box of parts. “You know, I’m still glad he’s my brother. Even if he does touch my stuff without asking, sometimes.”

“Yeah?”

“Sure, having a brother is cool. Having a sister is cool too,” the kid looked up at him as he pushed the bin back under the bed. “It’s nice to have people you know you can count on all the time.”

“That’s great kiddo, I’m glad you’re happy,” Tony blinked furiously; his kids weren’t good for his tough guy image.

“So happy, Dad,” Pete grinned as he wrapped his arms around Tony’s middle and rested his head against his shoulder. “The happiest.”

 

It was a while later, after supper, that Tony knew his kids all really were in it for the long haul with each other. All twenty-six people in the house had managed to be fed sufficient amounts of food, which was a miracle because this included two super soldiers, the king of Wakanda, the Hulk—admittedly in human form—two spider kids, two normal teenaged boys, The Valkyrie, Captain Marvel and a whole freaking host of Avengers.

“Two cookies, Harley!” Pepper yelled as she threatened their eldest with a wooden spoon. “Get your butt out of my kitchen, young man!”

“Pretty sure it’s _Dad_ ’s kitchen, but—” Harley ducked out of his mother’s reach and rushed past him and Natasha.

Tony snorted. “You gonna chase after him, Hon?”

Pepper glared, “There are too many witnesses,” she muttered and returned to where she was talking to Carol and Laura as they all tried to fix the disaster that was the amount of dishes in the house.

“She barely missed him with that spoon,” Nat smirked.

“Pep would’ve hit him with it if she’d really wanted to,” Tony told his friend confidently. “She’s got perfect aim and she played soft-ball in college.”

Natasha’s blinding grin told him that she already knew all of that. “You married a dangerous woman, Tony.”

“I did,” he agreed. “But, we have some pretty great kids.”

He watched with interest as his eldest son leaned over the back of the couch by the three younger kids and handed his only two cookies over to Peter. Tony was just a little too far to make out what the boys were saying, but Harley clapped his brother on the back and went to sit by Wanda.

“Huh,” Tasha said softly as she observed the children. “He’s apologizing for breaking Peter’s—whatever?”

“Yeah, but keep looking,” he told her with pride.

As expected, Peter handed off one of the cookies to Gwen who broke it in half and handed one half to Morgan without a second thought. He had the best kids; they loved each other, they apologized, made restitution, and shared with each other.

Natasha shook her head. “You’ve got some special kids, Tony. Clint’s got good kids, but they fight worse than Americans afraid of communists.”

“That’s a really weird analogy,” Tony raised an eyebrow, but before Nat could reply a shout sounded.

“HEY!” Wanda looked absolutely murderous.

Harley, it seemed, had managed to steal one of her precious cookies and was now running for the door. He jumped over the pile of blocks Cooper and Nate were playing with and grabbed his coat from the entrance way before Wanda had a chance to hop over the back of the couch to catch up to him.

“I’m going out!” the kid yelled before the front door slammed shut.

Wanda didn’t say anything as she grabbed her own jacket and ran out the door.

“We can go _outside_?” Morgan cried as she jumped up.

And that was the end of his peaceful chat with Tasha; soon all ten kids—god, half of them were _his_ —as well as Sam, Bucky, and Steve were outside playing in the snow. Tony kept watch from the window as his eldest got pummeled by magic flying snowballs. The twins had somehow managed to antagonize Wilson and Barnes onto the same side and were having an all out war with the soldiers. Gwen and Peter were clearly winning in spite of the men’s best efforts.

It took a good hour to get all the children back inside; Morgan and Nathanael were the first ones back inside—apparently hot chocolate was a good enough incentive for the two of them, but the others had to tire themselves out and nearly die of frostbite before giving in.

Two mugs of hot chocolate each, everyone was plied and sitting distractedly in the den, but the adults were getting antsy. It took Pepper mentioning it to him for Tony to realize that there were things the Avengers wanted to reminisce and talk about that weren’t necessarily appropriate in the presence of children. Still, it was only eight thirty; they couldn’t very well send them to bed.

“Alright,” Tony clapped his hands once the last mug was put away in the kitchen. “Kids, you’re being sentenced to the third floor for the rest of the night by your respective parental figures.”

His own kids snorted, but stood as did all of the others once they got shooing motions from their own parents.

“We’re being sent to our rooms?” Morgan frowned.

“No, Morg,” Peter picked his sister up. “We’re being sent upstairs so the grown-ups can be boring.”

“Ooooh! Okay,” the little girl smiled and nodded. “So we can play?”

“Yep,” Gwen emphasized the ‘p’ as she started herding them towards the stairs. “Movie in my room anyone?”

Shuri, however, stood up in all her seventeen years of princesship and crossed her arms. “I don’t have a parental figure present.”

Tony didn’t have to turn around to know that T’Challa was frowning, but he was quicker than the king.

“Well, I’m housing and feeding you currently,” he pointed out smirking, “guess that makes me your temporary foster dad. Go upstairs and hang out with the other kids.”

Pepper was torn between laughter and berating him as she sighed. “Tony you can’t just declare yourself someone’s foster parent.”

The comment had definitely caught the princess off guard, however, and she went full-passive aggressive instead of only partially frustrated at being kicked out of the Avengers.

“What’re you gonna do? Kiss me on the forehead and send me upstairs with my foster siblings?”

Tony Stark five years ago was no expert on children. Hell, Tony Stark five _months_ ago wouldn’t have known what to do with a seventeen-year-old firecracker mouthing off at him for wanting to spend some _adult_ time with his guests. But, the present Tony Stark recognized a cry for help when he heard one—maybe this dad thing was becoming some sort of alternate superpower.

“Sure,” he shrugged and walked forward opening his arms. “C’mere.”

And, surprising everyone including herself, Shuri took the two steps forward and hugged him. “Oh okay.”

Sure she was seventeen and a princess, but every kid wanted for affection _sometimes_ and she had lost her father. Tony knew from experience that that sucked even when your dad wasn’t great. From what he’d heard and seen, T’Chaka had been an excellent and attentive father to his children; he wasn’t surprised that Shuri was feeling his loss keenly when surrounded by so many families. God knew he missed his parents in times like this.

The girl’s arms stayed wrapped tightly around him for an extra second after he pressed a light kiss to her forehead.

When she let go, she looked a little dazed and misty eyed, but Morgan—ever an angel—saved them from figuring out the appropriate words that would make the rest of the room drop it all together.

“My turn!” the little girl wriggled until her brother put her down so she could run to Tony.

And so, in spite of wanting to send the kids upstairs so that he could talk to his friends, Tony Stark found himself hugging and kissing all four of his kids. The other children, it seemed, found themselves wanting their own parents as well, even Wanda got a hug from Steve and Nat before they all convened at the bottom of the stairs again.

“Let’s try this again,” he laughed. “Upstairs all of you, not a soul comes back down unless someone is bleeding out or broken. Bedtime is eleven o’clock, send a delegation downstairs when you’re all ready for bed. Got that?”

“Yes Boss,” all four of his kids and Shuri mock saluted him and hurried up the stairs.

Pepper waited a beat before turning to him. “Did you just adopt another one?”

 

Shuri still felt a little fragile, it had been almost two hours since they’d been sent upstairs, but she had been filled with a longing for her Baba that she couldn’t seem to shake. The others had settled in easily enough; Gwen had offered to project a movie in her room so they could all watch something together. The credits started rolling and Shuri let out a sigh; it was going to be a long night without her lab to help distract her from the emptiness she felt in her chest.

“Gigi,” Morgan Stark said getting up and reaching for her sister. “I want Daddy.”

“Yeah?” the blonde girl didn’t look fazed, she picked the little girl up and turned to everyone else. “I’m gonna get Morg ready for bed.”

“It’s almost eleven,” Lila Barton glanced at her brothers. “We should all probably get ready for bed.”

Cooper looked less pleased, but he reached for his brother and nodded. “C’mon Nate, let’s get you into pajamas.”

Shuri watched as everyone started putting things away and leaving for other rooms. She wasn’t usually one to be quiet or feel out of place, but tonight she really missed her home, her lab, and her Baba.

 _Home sick?_ she thought disparagingly. _It hasn’t even been one night._

“Shuri,” Gwen called to her worriedly. “You with us?”

She blinked. “Hm, yeah.”

“Why don’t you come help me get Morg ready for bed?” her friend smiled. “Grab your stuff, you can get ready in Mom and Daddy’s bathroom with us.”

Morgan smiled brightly. “You’re like our sister now, right?”

Shuri gave the girl a small grin, it was all she could really muster. “Yeah, yeah, okay.”

The three of them entered the master bedroom, which was the only room with a locked door on the third floor; Tony and Pepper had mentioned that only their children had access to their bedroom.

“We’ll give Morg a bath first,” Gwen explained as she started running the water.

That was how Shuri, princess of Wakanda, found herself helping bathe and dress a five-year-old girl who had a _very_ specific bedtime ritual.

“No,” Morgan said frustrated after Shuri handed her the pajama top. “Pants first.”

“It matters?” she raised an eyebrow but helped the little girl with her pajama pants anyway.

The youngest Stark rolled her eyes. “ _Yes_ it matters.”

Gwen walked out of the bathroom at that stage. “Sorry, forgot to tell you. Clothes go on and come off in a specific order.”

“Of course,” she shook her head.

“Shower’s all yours,” Gwen added as she took over dressing her sister.

Somehow, she and Gwen had both also gotten soaked through whilst bathing Morgan; Shuri wasn’t an expert on children, but she was fairly certain that most five year olds didn’t need this much attention. The Stark baby was apparently just as much, if not _more_ of a princess than she was.

Ten minutes later, all three of them were dressed in pajamas and Gwen unlocked the door so her brothers could come in.

“Fina—freaking—lly!” Peter said as he hurried past into the bathroom.

Harley shrugged as he waited by the door. “He needed to pee.”

“You could’ve said,” Gwen frowned. “We would’ve waited.”

“It wasn’t that bad, he’s just being dramatic,” the eldest Stark rolled his eyes. “We’ll be done soon.”

It took another fifteen minutes for the boys to shower, dress and brush their teeth, but eventually; at ten fifty-three, everyone on the third floor was ready for bed. During that time, Morgan had gone from being the incredibly spirited little child Shuri had met to a small, angry tyrant in Gwen’s arms who was frowning, flailing and demanding her father.

“Do _you_ want to go get him?” Peter finally snapped at the little girl.

“NO!” Morgan shouted at him.

Gwen frowned and rocked her sister a little. “It’s okay, Morg, Petey just meant that we have to wait until someone can go get him, okay?”

Morgan still look incredibly displeased, but lay her head on her sister’s shoulder.

Shuri glanced over at Peter; the boy looked ashamed of himself.

“I’m sorry, Morg,” he said softly. “I’ll go get Dad, okay?”

That somehow didn’t help because the little girl went from upset to horrified. “NO! It’s _dark!_ ”

Shuri was fairly certain they had control over the lights in the stairwell and that there wasn’t a good reason for nine of them to be standing in the hallway instead of someone biting the bullet and going to get Tony so he could tuck Morgan in bed.

“I’ll go with him,” Harley said stepping out of Peter’s room, ensuring that all ten of them were now looking like complete morons as they stood at the top of the stairs. “Sorry I took so long. Let’s go, Pete.”

“I’ll, uh, go too,” Cooper offered as he passed Nate to Lila and followed the other two boys down. “Safety in numbers or whatever?”

Gwen smiled as the boys disappeared down the stairs.

“Safety in numbers?” Shuri frowned. “They’re two floors down, not a mile away.”

“Those stairs are scary sometimes,” Morgan informed her seriously.

Wanda nodded. “FRIDAY’s on night-mode as well so we don’t have access to the lights without override.”

“Night mode?”

“It’s after ten,” Gwen explained. “We’re usually all upstairs except for Mom and Daddy by ten. And, those stairs kinda suck because they pass through the second floor and it’s always empty and kinda creepy.”

Cassie seemed to understand. “Even the day, unused floors are probably pretty scary.”

Lila was rocking her brother who was all but asleep at that point. “We have hallway night-lights in our house for when we need to get up. Stuff looks different at night.”

Shuri blinked, it hadn’t occurred to her that all of the Stark children were probably afraid of the dark, but it made sense; she didn’t know _too_ much about them, but she knew they had suffered trauma.

“Alright, we’re here,” Tony announced as he, the boys, Pepper, and the Bartons and Scott appeared on the stairs. “Looks like you girls were about to send out a search party.”

“Almost,” Gwen grinned at her dad. “We thought the boys got lost.”

“In our own house,” Peter rolled his eyes.

“Everyone says good night,” Pepper cut in before they could start bickering and she reached Wanda and gave her a quick hug saying something too low for Shuri to hear over the other childrens’ voices.

All the other kids were getting tucked in by their parents, but Shuri needed a minute. She just felt cold and tired, and she wanted her mother since she couldn’t have her Baba. Of course, she was thousands of miles away in the middle of nowhere America so she couldn’t have what she wanted.

“Shuri, sweetie, do you want a minute?” Pepper came up to her, her eyes were kind and she was motioning back towards the master bedroom where they could have some privacy. “It can be a lot, I know.”

Shakily she nodded and went to sit on the absolutely enormous bed; absently, she wondered if the entire Stark family could fit on it. Pepper sat beside her and took her hand, but didn’t say anything. The woman remained a steady, calm presence in the face of all of Shuri’s emotions and without even really realizing it she leaned against her, seeking her strength.

“You remind me of my Mama,” Shuri mused quietly.

Pepper squeezed her hand lightly. “That’s a very high compliment, sweetheart. Thank you.”

She rested her head against Pepper’s shoulder and breathe deeply, the tears that had been threatening to escape all evening finally did. Not in wracking sobs or with pitiful sniffles, but just quietly, peacefully, valid, but dwarfed by the strength of the woman beside her.

“Everything alright in here?” Tony asked as he entered the room, his voice was quiet and he sat down on her other side.

Shuri felt Pepper nod. “Yeah, we’re just taking a minute.”

She laughed, it came out a little choked, but it was there. “I think I’m _homesick_.”

Tony put a hand on her shoulder. “I know what that’s like. It just sneaks up on you sometimes, suddenly you want your own things, your own space, your own bed, and you can’t have it.”

“Yeah,” it was a relief to know that there was someone in the world who did actually understand what she was feeling. “Thank you. Thank you for everything.”

“Don’t mention it,” Tony smiled at her gently, a fatherly smile that eased the ache in her heart and made it worse all at the same time.

The words tumbled from her mouth before she could censor them or make them sound less _childish_ , “I miss my Baba.”

She felt Pepper’s hands tighten around her own as Tony put an arm around her and said softly, “I’m sorry, it’s a loss I’ve never gotten myself. I still miss my dad and I didn’t even like him.”

Shuri giggled at that; it wasn’t really funny, but Tony had definitely said it to help her feel better and somehow it had a little.

“You know,” the man continued softly. “I wasn’t kidding. I know you can take care of yourself and you’ve got your mom and brother, but if you ever need someone to talk shop with or threaten a suitor with a shotgun on your behalf—”

“Tony,” Pepper chastised, but the woman’s tone was laughing.

“What?” Tony said indignantly, but winked at her. “I’m just covering all my bases.”

Shuri found that the smile worming its way onto her face was a genuine one, “Thank you Tony, I’ll keep that in mind.”

“We’re here if you need us,” Pepper told her sincerely.

She nodded; it was nice to know that in this place she didn’t need to be strong or a princess, she could cry and miss her Baba as much as she wanted and they would understand in a way that wasn’t painful like missing him with T’Challa or Mama.

“But,” Tony cut in softly, “it’s late. And—”

“Daddy?” Gwen stood at the door looking a little unsure. “Sorry, I just—um, Shuri was missing.”

“I’m coming,” she told her friend with a smile, a real, genuine smile; the homesickness had started to ease and she was grateful.

“C’mon,” Tony stood. “I’ll tuck you both in bed so you can _stay there_.”

It had been a while since Shuri had been fussed over, but Tony wasn’t kidding when he said he was going to tuck them in. She and Gwen climbed onto the bed with Wanda who was already asleep against the wall and he kissed them both on the forehead, made sure they had fluffed pillows and the duvet was tucked firmly around them.

“Good night, girls.”

Sleep came easily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope it was alright!  
> In other news, I have until chapter 50 planned for this fic so the ship is set to sail. We'll be going in narrative order with a few time skips, but everything should remain coherent. Comments make my world go round and prompts are ALWAYS welcome :)


	22. Difficult Nights and Early Mornings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter has a rough night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SO SORRY! Life took off and I couldn't stop it. It's been a little anxiety inducing and complicated, and then I was out of the country, and--Thank you, all of you, for your patience, your understanding and your concern. Thank you so much for waiting, I'm really sorry it took so long. I swear I'll let you know if I go on hiatus again (which may happen due to midterms and finals being a thing).

**Chapter Twenty-Two : Difficult Nights and Early Mornings**

“I know nothing about Stark, how was I supposed to know he hasn’t _always_ been a pushover when it comes to his kids?” Danvers said indignantly as the rest of the Avengers laughed.

Valkyrie grinned at her girlfriend. “I’m pretty sure _you_ ’ve always been a pushover when it comes to kids.”

Tony shook his head, but didn’t say anything.

It was nice to just watch his friends be happy; sure they were all crowded into the den, Pepper was in his lap to help maximize space, but they were all _together_ and laughing. With the kids officially in bed, they’d broken into his liquor cabinet and brought out the good stuff.

He didn’t drink often anymore, but special occasions like having all of the Avengers together were fun exceptions.

Steve turned to him as the conversation drifted to some of Carol’s old Air Force stories—she and Rhodey were comparing combat missions and how stuff changed.

“She was alright?” Steve asked him and Pepper quietly.

Pepper smiled. “Yes, she said she was okay and she’d come down to get one of you if she needed.”

“Okay good,” the man nodded satisfied, but Tony could see the worry in his eyes anyways.

He didn’t blame Steve; Wanda may have turned twenty in November, but his friend had really started to take on a larger role in her life. Being a dad, by name or otherwise, made you worry about your kid. Nat had confessed that Steve had thought about having Wanda stay with them or even just her for the next couple of days rather than leave the girl upstairs in Gwen’s room in a less controlled environment.

Tony patted his friend on the shoulder. “She’ll be fine, Rogers. They were all passed out when we tucked Gwyneth in.”

“Sleepovers are a great bonding time for girls,” Pepper added helpfully; if any of them knew what was best for a barely-adult girl, it would be Pep.

“I know,” Steve sighed. “I just worry.”

 _Me too_ , Tony didn’t add as he clapped the man on the shoulder again and took another sip of his scotch.

The conversation drifted in many different directions, Bruce nerded out with him over new discoveries, although they had deep-sixed their time travel gear, they were still working on various bioengineering ideas. T’challa stuck to Bucky mostly, but he was diplomatic enough that Val and Carol roped him into conversations about battles, Happy was curious about Wakandan security protocols—mostly how the hell they kept track of the princess—and Laura coaxed details about Nakia out of him. Hope and Pepper were talking business around Lang and Barton catching up about their teenaged daughters.

“How do you handle the emotional outbursts, Stark?” Scott asked him curiously.

Tony blinked. “Uh, by listening mostly?”

Pepper shook her head. “I’m pretty sure they already do that, honey.”

He rolled his eyes. “There’s no good way to handle a teenager’s outburst, as far as I know, there are only less bad ways.”

Clint grinned at his wife. “ _See_?”

“Lila is something else when she’s upset,” Laura sighed.

“They’re all something else when they’re having feelings,” Tony empathized as Rhodey started describing one of their college adventures in the background. “Usually we just try to weather the storm.”

Hope looked up from where she’d been listening to Rhodey and smiled. “Having Cassie around has been great, it’s hard to imagine her being angry or upset—”

“It happens,” Lang informed her. “Not with us, usually, but she’s definitely not enjoying school at the moment and it bleeds through when she gets home.”

“God, High School is fucking hell incarnate,” Tony groaned and pressed his face into his wife’s shoulder. “The twins are on their Academic Decathlon team with this one kid that bullies them all the damn time—Gwen punched him in October—that was a whole _thing_.”

Pepper chuckled. “High School is rough, do you know what’s got her so wound up about it?”

Scott shook his head. “She won’t _talk_ to us, just pretends everything’s great while she’s with Hope and me, and gives her mother and Jim hell. Maggie’s talking about having her stay with us after break to see if it helps, but she doesn’t want Cassie to feel like she’s giving up.”

Hope took her boyfriend’s hand in an attempt to comfort him.

“Wish I could help,” Tony told him sincerely. “Sometimes they’re just having feelings and teenagers are all terrifying.”

Clint nodded. “Lila’s an easy kid, but part of that’s because we live in the middle of nowhere so she doesn’t have a whole lot of outside influences.”

“Maybe we should move out of San Francisco,” Lang mused.

Pepper snorted. “I don’t recommend it. Steve and Nat are moving _back_ to the city because Wanda’s starting college.”

At their names the two Avengers looked up.

“Pardon?” Steve turned to them.

Nat was quicker on the draw. “Yeah, Wanda’s taking some art classes at NYU so we’re moving back to our Brooklyn apartment.”

“Still don’t see why you two don’t move into Stark’s tower,” Sam piped up as he grabbed another beer. “Anyone else want one of these?”

Bucky raised a hand.

“Brooklyn’s home,” Steve said matter-of-factly. “And, ah, Wanda likes the apartment better than the compound or the Tower.”

“You’re upending your whole life and moving into a small apartment because your daughter likes it better?” Happy confirmed, he hadn’t been saying too much except for the occasional quip to add to any story Rhodey was telling.

Natasha rolled her eyes. “I don’t recall us mentioning that the apartment was small.”

“I haven’t been very many places,” Valkyrie grinned, “but I know for a fact that all the apartments in Brooklyn are smaller than anything Stark could provide.”

The conversation derailed from there into how many houses Tony had and why they’d chosen to have their winter gathering at the smallest of them.

Soon enough, the women—even Danvers and Val, much to his surprise—departed upstairs claiming that they wanted a decent night’s sleep leaving the men to their own devices.

“Don’t be too late,” Pepper murmured as she pressed a kiss to his lips. “It’s almost one.”

“I won’t,” he promised as he poured himself another glass of scotch, only his second one of the night. “I’ll be up soon.”

“So how did you get up the nerve to propose, anyway?” Sam prodded as soon as Pepper was out of earshot.

Happy choked on his mouthful of beer.

Tony rolled his eyes. “Actually, that was the kid’s fault.”

“Which one?” Bucky asked teasingly; their relationship had gotten significantly better over the past few months.

“The one I had at the time,” Tony grinned. “He decided not to become an Avenger at fourteen and it kinda screwed up a—um—press conference, which led to the proposal.”

“You proposed to buy yourself time?” T’Challa raised an eyebrow.

“Word of advice,” he smirked at the younger man, “maybe don’t do that.”

That set off a round of laughter.

Tony let Rhodey continue to tell college stories, he even okayed Steve telling some stories about Howard, which wasn’t really something he usually appreciated. But, tonight felt like a good night to reminisce and laugh with his friends; he felt safe and happy.

“So he decides that we’re going to fly the plane over an enemy base in the dead of night—” Steve was saying.

Tony took a sip from his scotch glass when Bruce cut in, “Tony, your kid.”

“My kid?” he blinked and glanced towards the doorway where a stricken, anxious looking Peter with a tearstained face was standing. “Hey, kiddo, c’mere.”

_~earlier~_

Peter woke with a start and a muffled cry.

 _I’m okay, I’m okay_ , he chanted mentally as he tried to slow his breathing; he didn’t want to wake Harley who was asleep next to him or Cooper who was in the top bunk. _We’re all okay_.

It didn’t feel okay, his nightlight was out because having a nightlight was _not_ cool, but then neither was waking up shaking and wanting his dad.

 _Dad_ , he thought vainly. _He can help_.

The blankets felt too warm, the darkness in the room was oppressive, and he just _really_ wanted his dad to make everything okay.

 _I can’t breathe_ , Peter thought vaguely as he got up and moved towards the door. _I want Dad._

Before he could stop himself, his mind started spinning all kinds of scenarios about why his dad would be upset at him for needing him at whatever time it was. Maybe he was sleeping or he was having fun with his friends and didn’t want a dumb kid messing that up. Tony did so much for all of them, it was unfair to ask him to comfort him now, right?

 _No_ , he reminded himself as he stepped out of his bedroom into the dark hallway; thankfully the bathroom light was on—although the door was shut; someone was awake, someone could catch him being a coward after having a nightmare. _Dad said he would help anytime, anywhere. He promised._

He could hear Tony’s voice coming from downstairs along with some muffled laughs.

It took a good deal of bravery for him to start down the steps, but the thought of getting caught in his pajamas in the hall spurred him on. Surely it was fine, there were so many Avengers in the house nothing could hurt them here. Peter’s only thought was to get to Tony, he couldn’t think of anything else because if he stopped to do so then his anxiety kicked in even harder and made it impossible to make a choice that didn’t involve him crying alone in the middle of the dark house until someone found him.

Finally, _finally_ , he stood in the doorway of the den. Except his dad was clearly busy. Everyone was sitting on chairs or couches, and it was just all of the male Avengers joking around and _drinking_. Dad had a tumbler of some kind of whiskey—probably scotch?—in his hands and he was grinning and laughing with Bruce and Steve who each had some sort of drink too.

Peter knew that his dad still drank, but not a lot and not often. In fact, he didn’t think he’d actually _seen_ his dad drink ever.

 _He probably doesn’t want to drink around us_ , his brain supplied making him even more anxious. _I should go_.

But by the time he’d made his mind up to go back upstairs, he heard his dad’s voice. “My kid? Hey, kiddo, c’mere.”

 _Shit_.

He felt his legs go on autopilot as he walked cautiously into the room, self-consciously he brought his fist up to rub against his cheeks; they were wet. _Great_ , now almost all of the Avengers had seen him crying and pathetic in his pajamas wanting his dad.

“Petey, hey kiddo,” his dad smiled encouragingly and put his glass on the side table.

For a small moment, Peter’s brain just gave up worrying about what everyone thought and promptly did what he wanted to do all along. Instead of bothering to try to sit next to his dad, which was impossible because of how squished everyone already was, he opted to climb right into his lap and hide his face into his neck.

 

Tony wasn’t terribly surprised that one of his kids had had a nightmare; all of them sleeping through the night was a rare occurrence anyway. He _was_ surprised that Peter had opted to come all the way downstairs instead of asking FRIDAY to retrieve him—the kids were all a little afraid of the dark, even Harley, and the staircase down to the first floor wasn’t particularly well lit.

“Bad dream, kiddo?” he asked his son softly once the kid’s breathing had become less erratic.

Thankfully, Rhodey had resumed the story about the time Tony flew into an active war zone in an Iron Man suit without alerting him first.

Pete nodded, but didn’t actually say anything.

“Don’t wanna talk?”

The kid shook his head, but glanced curiously at the tumbler of scotch Tony had retrieved.

He grinned. “Want to try it?”

Bambi eyes looked up at him filled with questions, but no words left his son’s mouth; it wasn’t uncommon for Peter to go a little mute after he’d had a bad anxiety episode, whatever had gotten him to come all the way downstairs hadn’t been a standard nightmare.

“Yeah, you can have a sip,” Tony encouraged as he handed the glass to the kid.

“You’re letting him drink?” Steve frowned.

He chuckled. “It’s one sip, it won’t hurt him. Actually it might—”

Right on cue, Peter made a face as the liquid touched his tongue and he thrust the glass back into Tony’s hands. The kid’s facial expressions were really amusing as the scotch made its way down his throat, then Pete promptly glared at the glass and flopped himself back onto Tony’s shoulder and closed his eyes.

Tony laughed and rubbed circles on his son’s back. “You did better than Maguna; she spat her mouthful back into the glass and ruined some perfectly good whiskey.”

“You let your five-year-old taste your drinks?” T’Challa looked a little appalled.

“It’s the best way to teach them _not_ to drink,” Clint grinned while Scott nodded in agreement.

Happy rolled his eyes. “They’re too much like Pepper to actually break into his liquor, but they’re curious enough to take him up on his offers.”

“It almost sounds like you _like_ my kids, Hap,” Tony smirked at his friend.

“I don’t,” his best friend assured him whilst grinning. “It’s bad enough having to do all the work I do for you _without_ needing to keep track of not one, not two, but _four_ fucking children Tony. _Four_.”

Rhodey laughed at that. “Try having to babysit them overnight, it’s a nightmare getting those kids to bed.”

“It’s in my contract that I never have to do that again,” Happy informed him seriously; even thought it wasn’t actually. “This one got stabbed while we were in Hong Kong and it was a whole _thing_.”

The rest of the room was cracking up, but Tony knew that his best friends absolutely adored his kids. Happy was just grumpy because he’d been so worried about Peter during the trip and had blamed himself for not being there to keep them safe. Not that he and Pepper hadn’t tried to explain to their friend that there really wasn’t anyone at fault for the kid getting hurt.

The conversation eventually moved on to more dumb college stories and Steve’s childhood, which as it turned out made Peter’s recklessness seem manageable in comparison. It wasn’t until Pepper made her way into the room that Tony realized it was almost three in the morning and his son had been asleep in his arms for at least half an hour.

“There he is,” Pepper said relieved as she spotted Peter. “I was doing bed checks and couldn’t find him anywhere.”

“Sorry,” Tony told her guiltily. “He had a bad dream and came down to find me.”

His wife nodded in understanding, but he caught a glimmer of vulnerability in her eyes; Pepper didn’t usually do bed checks _after_ she’d gone to sleep unless something had woken her.

Peter might’ve been the only _kid_ with a bad dream that night, but it seemed that Pepper had had a nightmare as well.

“I should come up, anyway,” he announced as he downed the last of his scotch. “You all good to clean up?”

“Yeah,” Sam nodded. “You go, get your kid to bed.”

“Alright, Barton, Lang, you’re in charge of making sure nothing non-kid-friendly is left out,” Tony told the other two fathers in the group. “We’ve got ten curious children in this house. God help us.”

“Well, _you_ didn’t invite him,” Bruce laughed. “Not that Thor would know not to give liquor to teenagers.”

Tony rolled his eyes and stood up with Peter in his arms. “Sweet dreams.”

“You sure you don’t want help with him, Tony?” Steve offered worriedly.

Pepper shook her head. “You’re more likely to pry the arc reactor schematics from his cold dead hands than get him to stop carrying his kids, Steve.”

“Damn straight.”

Tucking Peter back into bed with Harley wasn’t physically difficult, everyone who needed to remain asleep did so. But, Tony found himself wanting to wrap his son up in a duvet and tuck him into bed between Pepper and himself just to make sure nothing happened to the kid. He opted to plug in the nightlight that lay forgotten on the desk, instead.

“He’ll be fine, Tony,” she whispered as they shut the door the boys’ room.

He nodded and pulled her towards their own room. “The others are all asleep?”

Pepper smiled as he shut the door, but left it unlocked in case the children needed to come in. “Yes, I checked.”

“Speaking of checking,” Tony looked at her curiously as he began to change for bed while she took her dressing gown off and crawled back into bed. “You don’t usually.”

“Bad dream,” she told him quietly.

He slipped under the covers beside her and put his arms around her. “Yeah? Wanna talk about it?”

“No,” his wife admitted softly as she rested her head against his chest. “I just need to listen.”

Tony pressed his face into her hair and placed a kiss against the crown of her head; sometimes Pepper needed to hear his heart beat, if only to know that he was right there with her. He focused on evening out his breathing as she listened to the regular beats of his heart. Dealing with trauma was hard, especially when it came to the kids, but also when it came to each other, but Tony was finding that it was more and more worth it each day.

“I love you, Pep,” he breathed as he let his eyes fall shut.

 

Tony woke again when the bedroom door opened and soft footsteps made their way to the bathroom.

“FRI,” he mumbled. “What time is it?”

“It is 7:34AM, Boss,” the AI whispered back.

He groaned. _Too early_.

Tony closed his eyes again and nestled back down into the blankets with Pepper who hadn’t woken at the disturbance; she had some kind of super power that allowed her to remain sleeping even when the children started waking up. He envied her.

Just as he was falling back to sleep, about fifteen minutes later, the bedroom door burst open and Gwen shot towards the bathroom where one of the other kids was still getting ready for the day.

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! Petey get out of the bathroom I need to pee!” the teenaged girl assaulted the bathroom door with her fists.

“Two minutes,” Pete called back and water started running.

Gwen let out a frustrated sound and continued banging on the door. “If you don’t open this door this door _right now_ , I’m going to put you threw a wall!”

“If you put me through a wall, Mom and Dad are going to actually kill you,” her brother retorted.

Tony sat up at that point, he had a feeling his daughter wasn’t kidding.

“I need to pee more than I need to live,” Gwen ground out still hitting the door repeatedly with both of her fists.

“Pete, open the door,” Tony said loudly enough that his son would be able to hear him.

The bathroom door opened and Gwen actually picked her brother up and _moved_ him in order to get into the restroom and shut the door.

Pete blinked at him innocently, toothbrush still in his mouth. “What?”

“Do _you_ want to deal with a teenaged girl with a UTI?” Tony asked incredulously. “Because that’s how you end up dealing with one.”

The kid’s face turned red. “Oh my god, I’m sorry please don’t keep talking.”

Pepper sat up in bed and giggled.

“The female urinary tract is very different from ours and it’s—”

“ _Please stop talking_ ,” Pete begged as he covered his face in his hands.

The bathroom door opened at that point and Gwen walked out grinning toothbrush in hand, “Next time just let me pee, ‘kay?”

“Okay,” the kid held up his hands in surrender. “Didn’t think Dad would get so offended about it.”

“ _Daddy_?” Gwen shot back. “What about _me_?”

“Like you were gonna die if you held it for another minute,” Pete scoffed.

“Next time I’m breaking the door,” his daughter warned her brother as they walked back into the bathroom to brush their teeth together.

Tony lay back down. “Why did we have four of them again?”

Pepper snorted. “Mostly because we love them.”

“I miss privacy,” he groused as the kids continued to bicker.

Pepper placed a kiss on his lips. “Me too.”

“OH MY GOD PETE!”

His eyes shot open and he was sitting up again in an instant. “What happened?”

Both teenagers walked out of the bathroom completely soaked and guilty looking.

“You were brushing your teeth,” Pepper blinked at them dubiously.

The kids instantly pointed at each other and started talking a mile a minute about why it was the other’s fault.

Tony sighed. “Does it actually matter? Just go get dressed.”

The twins made it into the hall before they heard Harley asking them questions, then the pitter-patter of five-year-old feet as Morgan burst into the bedroom and cannonballed onto the bed.

 _So much for sleeping in_ , he thought dazedly as his youngest curled herself into his chest.

“I love you, Daddy,” she mumbled and closed her eyes.

“Taking a nap, Maguna?”

“No, just—” the rest of the little girl’s words came out garbled, she was almost instantly back to sleep.

Pepper chuckled and lay back down. “You’re wrapped around their fingers, you know.”

“Oh I know,” he smiled down at his daughter then up at his wife. “Let’s have another one.”

He didn’t bother trying to block the pillow that collided with his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kind criticism, as well as prompts, are always welcome :) Sending you all love x


	23. A Wedding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Starks host a wedding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of fun with this one! Sorry it’s late again!

**Chapter Twenty-Three : A Wedding**

Tony was concerned.

Morgan had been acting strange. As far as he could tell, it only occurred around Barnes, which he found even more odd. Peter had had a visceral reaction to Bucky because of their past, but he’d since come to terms with it, Gwen and Harley hadn’t had any direct experiences with the man that would colour their perception of him, and Morgan had never even been informed of Bucky’s past. That wasn’t something Tony would wish upon his youngest—or any of his kids really, although Peter had taken the liberty of catching the two older kids up to speed on the ‘Civil War’.

“She’s being weird,” he frowned and turned to look at Laura Barton who was standing beside him.

She shook her head. “Kids can be strange sometimes, it doesn’t mean something’s wrong.”

“She won’t let him out of her sight, but she won’t _talk_ to him either,” Tony insisted. “It’s like she’s keeping an eye on him. It’s weird. Morgan doesn’t _do_ that, the other kids sure, but not Morgan.”

Laura shrugged. “Maybe she’s picked it up from one of her siblings. She’s dealing with a lot of change.”

“I guess,” Tony sighed and walked into the den where Steve, Scott, Clint and Bucky were playing poker with deserts as currency.

“You’re all terrible at this,” Barton laughed as he grabbed his winnings. “Want in, Stark?”

“Sure,” he glanced at Morgan sitting in the corner looking at her book, which was hilariously upside-down. “Want to play poker, baby?”

“Nope,” the five-year-old shook her head and went back to pretending to read.

 _That’s ridiculous,_ Tony thought as he sat down. _She_ can _read._

He couldn’t figure it out, was she afraid of Bucky? He didn’t think so, when Morgan was afraid she went to see someone about it. Did she just not like him because he was different from everyone else? Bucky wasn’t the strangest character Morgan had ever met—that title went to a clown she’d accidentally come across in a mall once, that had been a bad day—but he wasn’t quite as talkative as the other members of the household.

At first Tony hadn’t even been sure it _was_ Barnes, it could’ve been anyone really, but upon closer observation his daughter seemed to be tailing the ex-assassin. She watched him when he left a room and waited a minute or two before following, she always sat with him in her direct line of sight if she could help it…

 _Maybe she thinks his arm is weird_ , he concluded and went back to concentrating on the chocolate chip cookies that had been placed in front of him as ‘chips’.

About twenty minutes into the game, thundering footsteps descended the stairs as all five teenaged girls entered the hall.

“Daddy,” Gwen called as she rounded the corner into the den. with her coat already on. “We’re going sledding.”

“Okay, Pumpkin, are the boys going?” he asked looking up at her.

“No,” Shuri piped up from next to Gwen. “They’re being boring.”

Tony shrugged, he had a feeling Pete just wanted to spend more time with his big brother before Harley went off to college. “Alright, be safe. Wear your watch.”

“Got it!” both girls left to go back to getting dressed.

“There’s a hill nearby?” Scott asked him.

He nodded. “Yeah it’s about a quarter mile from here, they’ll probably take one of the cars.”

“One of the cars?” Clint’s eyebrows shot up, but before Tony could answer Lila appeared.

“Daddy, have you seen my scarf?”

“In the hall closet on the left side, it’s on the hanger with Nate’s stuff,” the archer replied easily.

“Cool thanks!”

Tony smiled. “Yeah, some of the cars are self-driving so they’ll probably just take one.”

Cassie poked her head into the room. “Dad, did I leave my gloves with you?”

“Yes, Peanut, they’re in my coat pocket,” Lang answered easily. “Be careful, okay?”

“I will,” the teenager nodded and left.

“You sure it’s safe to send five teenagers in a self driving car to go sledding?” Bucky looked dubious. “What if something happens?”

“That’s why Gwen’s got her watch,” Tony assured him. “They’re perfectly safe, I own all of the property in a five-mile radius from this house.”

“And you didn’t want to put in a landing pad?” Scott asked surprised. “Wouldn’t it be easier to get here rather than using the airport?”

“Didn’t want it to be easy to get here,” he said simply. “It’s my family home, the harder it is to find, the better.”

Steve nodded at that. “Another reason why we’re moving to Brooklyn when Wanda starts school; it’s nice and low profile.”

“Low profile is nice,” Clint agreed as he shoved a cookie to the center of the table. “Middle of nowhere is getting kind of old, but we put so much work into the house.”

“You mean _you_ put so much work into the house,” Tony grinned.

“We didn’t _need_ a dining room,” his friend defended.

Steve laughed. “No, of course not, Barton.”

Scott looked like he was about to add something when Wanda appeared in the doorway fully dressed in winter gear and looking at her phone. The front door was already slamming as the girls laughed whilst leaving the house.

She didn’t even look up as she asked, “Hey Dad, is it cool if I take the keys? Gwen wants me to drive.”

“Sure, they’re in my—” Steve nodded and waved in the general direction of the cloakroom where all the coats were being stored. “You’ve already got them, don’t you?”

“I’ve already got ‘em,” the brunette grinned and disappeared again with a shout of. “See you later!”

The door shut.

Tony didn’t say anything.

Neither did anyone else.

Steve blinked. “What?”

“Um,” Scott tried but the words didn’t come out.

Bucky was looking at his best friend like he’d grown a second head.

Clint started chuckling.

Tony just waited, the realization was coming.

“Oh god,” Steve dropped his cards and his eyes grew wide. “She—she called me dad.”

“Yep,” Tony grinned popping the ‘p’ at the end of the word. “Congrats, Rogers, it’s a girl.”

Clint, Bucky, and Scott lost it whilst Steve continued to look completely stricken.

“She—she—oh my god.”

Morgan—who Tony hadn’t forgotten, but had simply assumed wasn’t paying attention—stood up and walked over to the good captain.

She reached up to rest a hand on his cheek. “But, Uncle Steve, you’re _already_ Didi’s Daddy, right?”

“A-am I?” the super soldier choked out with far more vulnerability than Tony expected; but then, realizing you’re a father can do that.

“Well,” Morgan chewed on her bottom lip, but kept her eyes completely focused on Steve. “You keep her safe, right?”

“Yeah,” Steve nodded.

“And, you make her breakfast, you make her laugh, you call nicknames, you make sure she’s okay, _and_ you love her, right?” his daughter checked.

“Yeah, I guess I do,” his friend continued seriously, as if he weren’t having a conversation with a five-year-old.

Morgan nodded at that. “Then you’re definitely her dad already.”

Somehow, her words seemed to calm Steve down significantly because the man grinned, “Oh, okay. Then, that’s alright, isn’t it?”

“Mhm,” the little girl hummed and walked back to her corner with her books as if she hadn’t just helped an _Avenger_ through a major identity crisis.

“Well, she doesn’t get that from me,” Tony declared to lighten the mood and take some of the attention off of Steve.

 

All the big girls had gone sledding, but that was okay because Morgan didn’t want to go outside today. She had a lot of questions and wasn’t sure who to ask about them. Daddy always said that Mommy was the smartest person in the whole world and she knew the answers to _everything_. But, _Mommy_ always told her that Daddy’s brain was really big and complicated, and that’s why he used to be a superhero. Morgan didn’t think she needed superhero advice.

“Mommy,” she asked her when she walked into the kitchen for a snack. “Can I have apple slices?”

“Yes, baby,” her Mommy smiled really brightly; she always did that when Morgan asked for healthy snacks like fruit instead of juice-pops.

“Mommy, why are you and Daddy married?” that was one of her questions.

Her mom blinked at that, but she gave her a bowl of apple slices. “Well, your Daddy and I really love each other and we’re very good friends so we decided we wanted to be together all the time.”

“But you’re _not_ together all the time,” Morgan frowned. “You go away for work and Daddy too.”

Aunty Laura and Aunty Nat were also in the kitchen and they both laughed when Morgan asked her questions, she wasn’t sure if it was a good laugh.

“Well, your Uncle Clint and I are married,” Aunty Laura told her. “He used to go away for work a _lot_ before. But, we were still best friends and, even when he was far away, being married meant that he was with me in my heart anyways.”

That made a lot of sense. “So being married means that you’re best friends, but you don’t always have to be together to be best friends?”

“It’s a little more than that,” Mommy smiled her kind smile, the one she had when Morgan asked grown-up questions. “But, it’s mostly that.”

“Okay,” Morgan nodded and continued to eat her apple slices. “How do you get married?”

Aunty Tasha giggled. “Most of the time one of the two people asks the other person to get married.”

“That’s it?” that sounded really simple.

“There’s also a big party,” Aunty Laura added.

Morgan nodded; big parties were fun, but they could be really tiring too.

“And, the people you both love get invited,” Mommy explained. “In your case, Daddy would walk you down the aisle, too.”

She liked the sound of that, Daddy was the _best_ and if she got married, she wanted him to be there.

“One more question,” she said as she munched on her last apple slice. “How do you get a person to want to marry you?”

Aunty Nat started shaking and making funny noises that sounded like laughs, but they were muffled behind her hand.

Mommy looked a little sick. “I’m not the—uh—best person to ask that question to. Laura?”

Aunty Laura looked really amused, but she smiled kindly and said, “You be nice to them and share your things, and you talk to them about things they like to do. Once you get to know a person and they get to know you, sometimes you both decide that you want to be best friends forever and get married.”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Morgan smiled and hopped off of her chair, then with an after thought she said. “Thank you!”

She almost back in the living room where Daddy was playing cards when Mommy said, “I wonder what’s gotten into her.”

 

Bucky Barnes was epically screwed.

After the older girls had come back from their adventure, which involved sledding down a hill on Steve’s shield instead of garbage can lids or whatever, the other men had abandoned him in favor of making sure their daughters were alright.

Not that he blamed them; he didn’t know a whole lot about teenagers, but he knew they were reckless. Even the girls.

That wasn’t why he was screwed. No, he was completely screwed because the moment everyone had left the family room, little Morgan Stark had looked up at him with her large, intelligent brown eyes and said, “Bucky will you read to me?”

How was he supposed to say no to that? “’Course I’ll read to you, munchkin.”

That granted him a huge smile as the little girl grabbed her stack of books and wandered over to the couch.

“Do you have a favorite animal? My books are about animals,” she told him seriously as she climbed up beside him and settled into the crook of his metal arm.

He was surprised at how easily she seemed to accept him, surely his prosthetic would be scary to a little child.

“Well, do you?” there was a little impatience in her voice; she was definitely Stark’s kid.

Bucky smiled. “In Wakanda, they call me the White Wolf, I like the title a lot better than my old one.”

The little girl nodded and pulled out one of the books with a snowy mountain scape and a white wolf on the front. “Let’s read this one, then.”

Somehow reading the first book about the wolf turned into reading three more picture books, a lesson on polar bears—Morgan’s favorite animal—and telling her about his time in Wakanda. He hadn’t expected her to have the attention span to listen to his stories about sheep and the new people he’d met during his recovery, but Morgan was a very smart little girl.

She rested her head easily against the metal of his prosthetic without any hesitation. “Does your arm still hurt? You said it did a little bit before.”

 _Good memory_ , he thought as he remembered the first time he’d met her six months ago. “Sometimes it does, but not as much anymore. Shuri made it, you know.”

“She did?” Morgan’s eyes grew wide. “That’s awesome. Shuri is great, she’s really nice and super smart—”

Bucky nodded. “She’s a good friend.”

Something seemed to disturb the child in his arms at that and she looked up at him nervously, “Is she your best friend, Bucky?”

He blinked. “Oh, um, no. That would be Steve.”

Morgan nodded at that. “Uncle Steve is your best friend like Uncle Rhodey and Uncle Happy are Daddy’s best friends, right?”

“Right,” Bucky smiled encouragingly, there was still some strange sadness in her eyes that he didn’t like seeing there; she was an innocent little kid, she didn’t need to be sad.

 _Oh god,_ he thought in shock, this was why he was screwed. _I’m completely wrapped around her finger_.

He really was too, over the course of the last hour, other members of the Team had come by to try to talk to him or play with Morgan, but he’d been so focused on the little girl and keeping her happy and entertained that he hadn’t bothered with them. When had he befriended a five-year-old child?

“Will you be _my_ best friend?” she asked him quietly, not looking him in the eyes anymore.

“Of course, munchkin, I’ll be your best friend,” Bucky told her readily; he was completely done for, so much for his dignity and tough guy image, Steve was going to make fun of him for the rest of his life.

The blinding smile Morgan gave him made it worth it. “Let’s read another book, I like this one, it’s about scientists!”

 

“I swear something was weird with her this morning,” Tony told Pepper frowning.

His wife shook her head. “She seems okay now.”

He couldn’t deny that; Morgan had gone from tailing Barnes like a Russian spy to sitting on the couch and reading books with him. “I guess you’re right, maybe she had a problem and found a solution.”

“Oh?” Pepper looked at him, laughter in her eyes.

“Sometimes it’s hard to engage with someone when you don’t understand something about them, maybe Bucky was more complicated for her to understand so she didn’t engage with him,” he explained carefully.

“Maybe,” his wife grinned. “Somehow, I don’t think that’s it.”

“You don’t? What do you think it is then?”

“I don’t know.”

“That’s not a valid answer to the mystery,” he told her matter-of-factly.

 

Pepper watched as Morgan showed Bucky her RC car that could drive on the ceiling and explain how the tires were modeled after her siblings’ abilities to stick to surfaces. The ex-assassin was completely captivated and asked her questions about the car, but also about school and her friends there; he was trying really hard to be kind to her daughter.

 _That’s going to get him in trouble_ , she mused as Morgan started animatedly telling Bucky about the braids her friend Danielle had in her hair.

Sure enough, ten minutes later, Morgan was sitting on the back of the couch with the lauded White Wolf in front of her letting her braid his hair.

“I wish it was summer time,” the five-year-old mused. “Then I could flowers in your hair. Mommy has a garden in the summertime and we have the prettiest pink flowers—I don’t remember their names, though—plants are hard to ‘member.”

“That’s okay,” Bucky told her reassuringly. “I find lots of things hard to remember. I think you’re really smart to know all of the stuff you taught me about animals earlier.”

Pepper stifled a laugh; Morgan had somehow managed to charm one of the most reserved men Pepper had ever met in her entire life.

“Thank you,” Morgan told him earnestly. “I think I’m all done the braids.”

Bucky held up a mirror to look at himself. “It looks great, munchkin! Thanks so much, now it’s not going to be in my face all the time.”

“I think it looks really pretty,” Morgan grinned and flopped down beside him on the couch. “Hey Bucky?”

“Yes, munchkin?”

Morgan picked up Bucky’s metal arm and started playing with the fingers, from Pepper’s vantage point she could see her daughter nibbling on her bottom lip, but then the little girl seemed to gain some sort of resolve.

She looked up directly into Bucky’s eyes and asked, “Bucky, will you marry me?”

“Um, sure,” Pepper nearly lost it at the completely casual and taken aback tone with which the man answered.

“Yay!” Morgan threw her arms up and hugged him before jumping off of the couch. “I’m going to tell Gigi, okay? I think she knows how weddings work because Gigi knows _everything_.”

As soon as her daughter had vanished, Pepper watched Bucky Barnes, howling commando and White Wolf of Wakanda, collapse into the couch with a groan.

“Sergeant Barnes?” she called tentatively. “Are you okay?”

“You’ve been standing there a while,” the man mumbled not turning to look at her. “What did I just agree to? And, how likely is it that your husband will try to kill me?”

Pepper snorted. “Tony’s not going to try to kill you, Morgan is her own person and has her own ideas about what marriage means.”

“That’s good,” worried eyes looked up at her from the couch. “I don’t even know why I didn’t just explain to her—”

“It’s the eyes,” Pepper assured him; she had fallen prey to Tony’s eyes enough times to know that Morgan had simply looked at Bucky and the man had been completely helpless in the face of the sheer innocence and determination. “Trust me, I know.”

Bucky nodded. “Guess I should go let Steve know he’s best man?”

“Probably, I’ll need to go figure out how we’re rigging an aisle in the house,” she grinned at him. “She got you good.”

“She’s more dangerous than anyone I’ve ever met,” he told her sincerely.

 

Tony wasn’t entirely sure he was hearing what he thought he was hearing.

Bruce and Rhodey were laughing pretty hard behind him, but his whole focus was on Morgan sitting in his lap looking very frustrated.

“You’re doing what, baby?” he asked for the third time.

Morgan crossed her arms and glared at him. “I’m getting married to Bucky, in two hours.”

“In two hours, huh? Doesn’t that seem a little short for an engagement?” he tried.

“No,” she told him promptly.

“Okay, well let’s think about this; ignoring the fact that he’s older than _Uncle_ _Steve_ and that it’s technically illegal, Bucky’s a superhero Maguna and marrying superheroes is a bad idea. Just ask your mom,” he told his daughter seriously. “I don’t want you going through all of that stress—”

“Daddy,” she interrupted him defiantly. “I’m not _asking_ you, I’m _telling_ you that I’m getting married to Bucky in two hours.”

Tony was pretty sure you could hear a pin drop in the silence that followed Morgan’s statement, and in a house of twenty-six people that was impressive.

“You are, aren’t you?” he conceded; it was ridiculous for him to be opposed to his five-year-old wanting a mock wedding, but it tugged at his heart strings. “Ah, _why_ are you getting married to Bucky, Maguna?”

“Aunty Laura said that when you’re married to your best friend, then even when they’re far away you can still be together,” Morgan explained solemnly. “Bucky is my best friend so I want him to be with me even when he’s far away, so he knows he has to come back and read me stories and have tea parties.”

“That’s some really solid reasoning, baby,” Tony smiled. “So, in two hours, huh?”

“Yep,” Morgan grinned popping the ‘p’ at the end of the word. “You have to walk me down the aisle.”

“I do have to do that, don’t I?” his kids were _not_ good for his heart.

 

Two hours later, Tony found himself walking his five-year-old down a make shift aisle in the living room with all of their friends and family present. Pepper had somehow managed to rig somewhat wedding-like décor along the mantle and walls. T’challa had offered to officiate as he had no real jurisdiction outside of Wakanda and there was no way their mock wedding could be taken seriously. Rhodey and Happy had gone from laughing at Tony to being very somber as they sat in the crowd realizing that this would eventually actually happen someday.

Carol and Valkyrie had been asked to be bride’s maids while Gwen stood as the maid of honour for her sister. Pepper was giggling, which Tony thought sounded an awful lot like joyful bells, but maybe he was just biased because he loved his wife so much.

If Tony shed a couple of tears as he dropped Morgan off at the front of the aisle, well no one said anything.

After the ridiculously simple ceremony during which Morgan promised to share her juice-pops with Bucky—the largest sacrifice his daughter had ever willingly made in her entire life—and Bucky promised to keep her safe—something told Tony that part wasn’t made up—they all cheered and had cake.

“You okay, Daddy?” Gwen cornered him on the balcony where he was looking inside at all of his friends celebrating Morgan’s mock wedding.

“Yeah,” he grinned at his eldest daughter. “Just—um—”

“Don’t get married anytime soon?” the teenager smirked as she leaned against him.

“That,” Tony agreed.

Gwen nodded. “I promise.”

“Yeah?” he glanced down at his daughter.

“Yeah.”

He’d hold her to that; he just wasn’t ready for his kids to grow up any more than they already had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it :) Comments are always welcome, they bring me lots of joy!


	24. New Year's

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Starks and guests celebrate New Year's.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was fun to write too :) Some background Carol/Valkyrie for your enjoyment
> 
> Also fair warning the next chapter is gonna be the last one for a little bit. Focusing on school has made it tough to write as much. I’m sorry!

**Chapter Twenty-Four : New Year’s**

“She called Steve ‘dad’?” Pepper asked surprised; she was talking to Natasha out on the porch the day after Morgan’s spectacular wedding to Bucky.

Since the wedding, Morgan had—according to Tony—returned to normal and stopped stalking the ex-assassin in favor of engaging with other people, although she still insisted he read to her and carry her around on occasion. Pepper thought it was sweet, Tony thought it was hilarious that his daughter had managed to subdue a man as dangerous as Bucky.

Morgan’s crush had, however, overshadowed an occurrence that Pepper was just being made aware of: Wanda had called Steve ‘dad’.

“It was an accident, I think,” Natasha told her. “All the other girls were talking to their dads and she needed to ask Steve for the keys so she called him ‘dad’ by accident.”

Pepper nodded. “She calls you ‘mom’ sometimes, doesn’t she?”

“More often than not, now,” her friend said. “But, she’s always been close to me. Steve had a small identity crisis according to Clint.”

“How’d Wanda do?”

Nat smiled. “She cornered me when they got back from sledding and freaked out. She’s okay now, but it shook her.”

“It’ll do that,” Pepper reassured her. “It took Harley a while to call Tony ‘dad’, but it’s ‘dad’ all the time now.”

“Speaking of your brood,” Natasha glanced back into the house. “Have you seen them since breakfast?”

Pepper froze.

“All the cars are here,” her friend told her quickly with a laugh. “I think they’re just hiding out.”

“Knowing them, they got lost in a project in the garage and forgot that we have guests,” she sighed. “I’m going to go track them down.”

“Good luck.”

 

Pepper was fully prepared to tell her entire family off for ignoring their twenty guests in favor of working in the garage right up until she actually set foot in it.

As it turned out, Tony was lying flat on his back beside the couch with an arm over his eyes and Morgan asleep on his chest. Their daughter’s hair fanned out along his other arm as she lay curled up resting her head against his heart, it was the sweetest scene.

At the workbench, Harley was quietly going over what looked like holographic business schematics, but he also had complex math equations flying around—they didn’t look like anything Pepper recognized, she assumed they were more engineering related than economics. Peter sat at the other end of the workbench with several vials and beakers in front of him, but he was scribbling happily at a whiteboard. Unlike when her Spider-Son was working in the lab, he didn’t have an air of deep concentration on his face, but rather it looked like Peter was having fun coming up with a new chemical compound for no reason.

Gwen, for her part, was lying on her stomach on the floor putting together what looked like a miniature engine, but she kept referencing her classic car book and mumbling. The teenager had her oversized headphones on and looked comically like a small child putting a LEGO set together if it weren’t for the fact that she was clearly assembling miniature complex machinery.

All of them, except Morgan who was asleep and Tony who simply cracked an eye open, looked up at her as she entered.

Pepper wasn’t entirely sure what it was that made her decide to stay rather than simply leave her introverted family to themselves; maybe it was because she was just as tired as they were, but she found herself climbing onto the couch and laying down.

The kids went back to their work, Tony reached over and took her hand that was hanging off the side of the couch mere inches away from his own, and Morgan shifted only slightly to tighten her grip on her father’s shirt before everything went back to near silence in the garage.

_Just a few minutes_ , Pepper thought as she let her eyes fall shut.

 

New Year’s eve at the Lake House with the avengers and their families was a ridiculously chaotic event. Tony wasn’t sure when he started thinking of raging parties with fire hazards and enough beer to give an army alcohol poisoning as chaotic, but here he was.

_Maybe I’m just getting old_ , he frowned running a hand through his hair. _I’ve got the grey hairs to prove it._

 

Earlier that evening, the kids had decided to have a snowball fight against the avengers. Between Gwen and Peter creating elaborate web contraptions, Morgan’s terrifying strategy skills—Tony couldn’t bring himself to feel too bad about those though—Shuri’s ridiculous intellect combined with Wanda’s magic, and all of the other kids’ talents and sheer grit, they gave Earth’s Mightiest Heroes a run for their money.

Sam had been merciless when Bucky had been hit in the face with a snowball. “I thought you had enhanced reflexes, man!”

Barnes had glared back at him before grinning at Morgan across the battlefield. “Well, _I_ thought I was her husband—”

“All’s fair in love and war,” the little girl had answered before nailing Bucky in the face with another snowball. “ ‘sides, we got married _forever_ ago.”

Tony hadn’t known whether to laugh or be extremely concerned by his daughter’s Avant guard perspective on marriage.

Steve, who had opted to sit out the fight with him, laughed. “I know you hear this all the time, but she’s _definitely_ yours.”

“Why?” he frowned. “Because she’s flexible about what being married means, she’s five!”

“No, no,” his friend shook his head and held up his hands in surrender quickly. “I didn’t mean it like that Tony. I meant, she’s quick witted. She’s got great one-liners, even in the heat of battle.”

“Oh,” Tony had felt bad for getting so upset at him. “Sorry. Old habits—”

“I know,” Steve had smiled and rested a hand on his shoulder. “Trust me, I know.”

He sighed and turned back to the fight where Harley and Cooper were sneaking behind enemy lines while Gwen and Peter kept up a steady onslaught of snowballs and insults as a distraction. Cassie and Lila were making ammunition so Wanda could launch them at the enemy in quick succession using her powers, Shuri had taken over fortifying their basecamp and occasionally calling out for backup. Nate was alternating between helping Morgan and causing distractions so that the adults didn’t turn around. And Morgan, his sweet little girl, was up at the top of the tree the kids’ camp had been built around with a mountain of snowballs, she was calling out patterns and strays as she pelted Avengers with snow.

“Why haven’t they knocked her down yet?” Hope asked as she came to sit by him and Rogers, Lang was out on the field complaining loudly about the fact that he couldn’t use his suit.

“I don’t think they can,” Steve said as Clint launched a snowball at Morgan’s nest.

Maguna, ever resourceful, pulled the Captain America shield from beside her and deflected the snow easily enough.

“Didi!” the five-year old hollered.

Wanda instantly had a red shield around Morgan whilst also sending another barrage of about twenty snowballs at Clint, burying the man.

The objective of the snowball fight, aside from tiring everyone out, was to capture the enemy flag and bring it back to base camp. Somehow, in spite of being up against _children_ , none of the avengers had been able to breach the kids’ fortified walls. T’challa was glaring at his sister as she pelted him with snow whilst shouting for backup. Gwen obliged with backup, which led to the Black Panther having to retreat in the face of two determined teenaged girls and a toddler assailing him from above.

Harley and Cooper had managed to grab the flag and were sneaking back across the battlefield when Carol shouted.

“THEY HAVE THE FLAG!”

“Uh-oh,” Pepper said softly from beside him, Tony hadn’t even been aware that she’d been paying attention.

What followed was a glorious series of hand-offs as the Spider-kids charged for their brother in an attempt to retrieve the blue flag from his hands. Wanda had been allowed to use her powers on snow, but not on people, making it impossible for her to intervene aside from throwing more snow and ice in the way of the adults. Shuri was frantically climbing the tree where Morgan was perched for some reason, while Cassie had run out to the field in an attempt to be an extra person out there. Lila and Nate were close behind her.

Ultimately, the flag was passed from hand to hand as Gwen and Peter carried teammates and distracted enemies, whilst Shuri actually picked up and lobbed Morgan—who had been holding the shield—at the battlefield so the little girl could grab Nate, who had acquired the flag, and get them both to safety.

“We won!” Pete shouted as the two youngest members of the Great Snow War reached safety.

Sam promptly assaulted him with a mountain of snow.

“I will be remembered a hero!” the kid yelled from under the pile of snow.

Valkyrie was doubled over in laughter, when she regained herself she turned to Gwen. “You should probably help your brother.”

“Harley’s fine,” the teenager pointed towards her older brother who was having some sort of animated conversation with Morgan and Nate.

“Your other brother,” Carol grinned.

Gwen blinked. “Who?”

“Hey!” Pete shouted from the ground. “My sacrifice was noble!”

“Well, actually, you didn’t sacrifice anything to end up there,” Cassie told him as she picked up an armful of snow and dropped it on him. “Sam just leveled you.”

Pete continued to dramatically complain about how he had been integral to the success of the war whilst the other kids needled and teased him good naturedly as he lay on the ground covered in snow.

In the end, it had taken Pepper pulling out her ‘mom voice’ to get everyone inside, dried off, and into fresh sets of clothes. Gwen and Pete, of course, had to be all but thrown into the fireplace to warm up once the temperature difference hit. They’d been handed at least five cups of cocoa each and were wrapped in several layers before they both stopped shivering.

 

_Now_ , Tony found himself trying to reign in most of the adults, whilst the children were on their best behaviour—probably due to the lack of alcohol in their systems.

Valkyrie had brought Asgardian ale, which was the only thing that got Steve, Bucky, and T’challa tipsy. She’d been impressed with them, although it had only taken them a single shot each to get them that way. Tony, somehow, had been less impressed.

“You okay, Stark?” Carol asked him as she grabbed beers for herself and Rhodey from the table.

“Yeah,” he sighed. “I just have three of the biggest, most reckless idiots drunk for the first time in their lives near a body of water. Everything’s fine, Danvers.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “You don’t need to worry about them, it’ll be fine. Have some fun!”

Rhodey and Carol had hit it off almost immediately after they’d met; they were both Air Force and Tony was fairly certain they’d bonded over the trauma of being in crashes as well. Bruce was chatting with Laura and Clint over wine, Scott and Hope had their head’s together and were laughing with Nat and Sam. Happy looked like he was having an interesting conversation with a _very_ tipsy Pepper, which was the highlight of Tony’s night really.

Sure, he might have been the only mostly sober person at the party aside from the kids who were all underage, but _Pepper_ so rarely got even slightly intoxicated and she was always a riot when she was. Not because she was terribly wild, but rather because she laughed more easily, was more open, and occasionally thought dancing on tables was fun.

The kids were surprisingly comfortable with the not-quite-drunk adults milling inside and outside the house. Cooper, Harls, and Pete were excited to set off the fireworks Tony had put together for the evening. The boys were attempting to stay awake by playing black jack with Wanda, Cassie and Shuri, which Pepper and Laura had forbidden them from doing, but now both women were too distracted to notice. They were betting M&Ms and Lila was the dealer.

“Pete, don’t _eat_ the money!” Cassie complained, but she popped a few of the chocolate candies into her mouth as well.

Tony chuckled as he walked through the den back to the kitchen, subtly checking that the kids were still, in fact, only drinking sparkling juice and nothing heavier.

He spotted Nate asleep in one of the armchairs, the kid had been tucked in by one of his siblings because he had a pillow and a blanket as well.

_Where’s Morgan_? Tony frowned and glanced around; neither of his daughters were downstairs.

He did find them, however, upstairs in his and Pepper’s bedroom. The girls were curled in the center of the bed, Morgan completely passed out under her weighted blanket, curled into Gwen’s side as the older girl continued to read aloud from one of Morgan’s Winnie the Pooh books.

“Pumpkin,” he said softly as he poked his head into the room. “She’s asleep, sweetheart.”

“I know,” his older daughter smiled as she closed the book. “I just wanted to finish the story.”

Gwen slipped from the bed easily, tucking Morgan in, and coming to join him. His teenaged daughter could introvert with the best of them and she had definitely decided that reading to Morgan was a better alternative to being downstairs with the loud adults.

“Do you want to go to bed, Pumpkin?” he asked quietly.

“Nah,” she shook her head and started down the stairs. “Momo was tired, and I needed a break.”

“Momo?” he raised an eyebrow at the nickname.

Gwen smirked. “Well yeah, she calls me Gigi so it’s only fair, right?”

“Sure is, Pumpkin,” Tony smiled as they descended the stairs back into the den. “Wait, does that mean that I’m going to start being called some sort of gourd?”

She snorted. “No, you’re just Daddy. Are they playing blackjack?”

“Sure are,” he nodded walking back into the kitchen and pouring himself a glass of scotch. “Want anything?”

“Wine?” Gwen asked hopefully.

“No,” Tony rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you get a soda and we’ll go sit on the porch?”

“Fine,” she looked all of her fifteen years as she rolled her eyes and grabbed a can of cranberry ginger ale.

“You can pour it into a tumbler if you want,” he conceded; usually he didn’t let anyone touch his personal glasses at the Lake House because they were some of the few he had left from his father’s collection, but Gwendolyn’s smile was enough to make up for the worry of whichever one she chose breaking.

Out on the porch, they sat under a thick blanket, Gwen leaned into him stealing his body heat. Now that he was aware of the thermoregulation issue, Tony felt like he was _hyper_ aware of how much the twins compensated for it. Pepper had moved on to making snowballs and lobbing them at Nat and Hope who had joined her in the snow. She was laughing and running around in such a carefree manner that Tony felt his heart tug; his wife was so rarely so free of responsibilities. There were snowflakes her red hair as she flew by dodging Tasha’s half hearted throw. None of the women were actually trying to hit each other, but rather they were having fun just dodging and laughing.

“Mama looks happy,” Gwen said quietly as she followed her mother with her eyes.

_Mama is new_ , he thought surprised; even after six months, Gwen was still bonding with Pepper in different ways—he knew she slept in their bed when he was away, worried that Pepper would be lonely or sad, they did some mother-daughter dates, and shared a love for romantic comedies, but _he_ was still the person his daughter called out for in the night when she was afraid or the first person she brought a problem to.

“Yeah, she is,” he agreed. “She doesn’t get to have this much fun often.”

“Mhm,” in spite of her insistence that she was awake, Gwen yawned. “It’s really nice to have all of our friends over.”

“Yeah? Not too crowded?”

“Oh it’s crowded,” she told him seriously, “but it’s still _nice_. I miss my own room, and the quiet, but it’s not so bad. And, Mama likes having other moms around, I think.”

He blinked at that. “You think so?”

Gwen nodded. “You chose us, you know? Even Morgan, you wanted her before Mom was sure. I think sometimes she’s scared she’s not enough because we’re all so different and she sort of just ended up with us.”

“Hey,” he said quickly as he pulled his daughter more firmly into his arms. “That’s not—”

“I know she _loves_ us,” she told him firmly, her blue eyes steely, “but I think having other moms around helps her see how good of a job she’s doing. Or, at least, that no one actually knows how to be a mom, it just happens.”

Tony shook his head; his kids were incredibly perceptive, of _course_ Gwen would have figured out that it was _he_ who had wanted a brood and that Pepper had simply loved and trusted him enough to step up to the plate. Having Morgan had been a miracle; between all the superhero-ing and the palladium poisoning, he hadn’t even been sure they _could_ have a child.

Pepper joked about how she never wanted to be pregnant again, but the truth was that she probably _couldn’t_ get pregnant again. Morgan had been the fruit of so much effort and hope, the pregnancy had been hell for both of them, but mostly Pepper, and they’d nearly lost their baby girl three very scary times.

“You know, we’re really happy we have all of you, right?” he checked as he rested his head on his daughter’s.

“Yeah, I know,” Gwen nodded. “It’s just that sometimes I don’t know _why_ you’re happy. But, I think it’s hard to explain, right? We’re not easy kids and we have a lot going on, plus we kind of like to think we’re grown up and can figure it all out on our own.”

“God _that_ is the hardest part,” Tony groused. “Everything else I can handle, but the stubborn independence might actually kill me.”

His daughter laughed. “But, I know you love us and, even though it’s hard, I’m starting to get that you and Mama love us unconditionally and don’t play favorites.”

“Yeah?” he pulled back to look at her. “Good.”

Gwen rested her head on his shoulder and they went back to watching grown men and women play in the snow, dance, and laugh at dumb jokes. Tipsy Steve was the funniest thing Tony had ever had the pleasure of seeing; he was just overly polite and attempting to flirt with Natasha who had had her fair share of alcohol. Pepper had managed to convince Rhodey to dance with her, which was going about as well as it could with her lack of coordination due to the alcohol and his own tipsiness and leg braces. Happy had sequestered himself into a corner, but had somehow managed to catch both Valkyrie and Carol’s attention so his forehead of security was being interrogated by the super-wives.

“OH!”

Tony blinked and glanced down to where Gwen was making the most disgusted face; somehow during his distraction, she’d managed to swap her glass with his in order to taste his whiskey.

He snorted. “You’ve been stealing my drinks over the last few days. Serves you right.”

“I’m not _stealing_ ,” she glared. “I’m tasting them. And, this one is _really_ strong.”

“My dad liked this one,” Tony laughed as he reached for the tumbler. “Old man had fine taste or something.”

Gwen took another sip and made a face before handing the glass back and retrieving her ginger ale. “Howard had really bad taste in alcohol.”

He sipped the whiskey, it wasn’t his favorite drink, but it was _bad_ and he really only drank it when he wanted to remember the man who had fought hard to give him the life he built for himself.

“How come my mom is Grandma, but Grandpa is just Howard?” Tony asked curiously.

“Because Howard was a jerk,” his daughter said simply knocked back her ginger ale. “A jerk with bad taste in alcohol.”

“He did his best,” he told her sincerely; it was true, Howard hadn’t been a _good_ father, but he’d loved Tony in his own emotionally stunted way.

Gwendolyn shook her head. “No, _you’re_ doing your best. He was just an asshole. And, you have better taste in whiskey.”

Tony couldn’t help but throw his head back and laugh at that. “I do, do I?”

“Yeah, but I’m still a bigger fan of my soda,” she looked mournfully at her empty glass. “I don’t wanna get up for more. I’ll get cold.”

“Your life is so hard, Spider-Girl,” Rhodey’s voice drifted over to them as he handed Gwen another can of ginger ale.

“Best Uncle,” the teenager said promptly as she poured the can into her glass.

Tony shook his head. “You shouldn’t have whiskey preferences, you’re fifteen.”

“I don’t have my _own_ preferences,” she rolled her eyes. “I just like the stuff you usually drink better.”

Rhodey snorted.

“I don’t _usually_ drink anything.”

“No,” Gwen agreed. “You don’t. I don’t like Mom’s wine either, though.”

“How much do you let this kid drink, Tony?”

“Too much, apparently.”

 

Tony was never letting Peter handle fireworks ever again.

Not because the kid was reckless, which he _was_ , but because the excitement setting off the rockets led to just wasn’t worth it. He couldn’t _believe_ how much more energetic his son became as the fireworks went off. The kid ran around and shouted and jumped up and down.

Some of the adults— _Steve_ —had fallen asleep before midnight and needed to be woken up, but others had stayed up for the hour long fireworks spectacular that Tony had rigged with the boys. He’d offered to have the girls help, but they’d declined in favor of doing whatever it was that five teenaged girls and a tot did when they got together—plot world domination, probably. As it turned out, Cassie and Lila stayed up for the show with Shuri, Gwen stayed curled up in the swing on the porch, and after making sure that Pete wasn’t going to light himself on fire, Tony realized that Harley had disappeared midway through the light show. Wanda was also missing.

“Where’d they go?” Rogers frowned as he glanced around the crowd of their friends.

Tony shrugged and started inside. “Maybe they got cold, it’s not exactly toasty out there and Wanda’s probably not a huge fan of explosions.”

Steve looked a little sick at the though. “Shit, I should’ve checked—”

“It’s fine,” he reassured his friend. “We have noise cancelling headphones all over the house, I’m sure if she needed them one of the kids would’ve found her a pair. Morgan needs them all the time.”

They found Harley and Wanda curled up on one of the couches in a dead sleep. Wanda had indeed had a rough go of it with the fireworks as she was sporting pink headphones, her head was resting on Harley’s chest. _He_ had a pillow under his head and his phone lay discarded on the ground where it had fallen out of his hand. It was obvious that they’d come inside to avoid the noise and ended up cuddling for some reason—probably because cuddling was _the shit_ , Tony thought—and had fallen asleep.

Steve looked like he was going through all the stages of grief at once before he coughed and asked. “It’s not worth it to wake them, is it?”

“Probably not,” Tony admitted. “Nate’s asleep in the armchair and Maguna’s in Pepper and my bed. We’ll just do some shifting around, maybe Pete can take top bunk and the Barton boys can sleep on the bottom one together.”

“We could just wake them and send them to bed,” his friend said with a strained voice.

Tony snorted. “It’s hardly _inappropriate_ , Rogers. They’re asleep on a couch in the middle of a crowded house. What’s going to happen?”

Steve sighed. “I know, I know. It’s irrational.”

He shrugged. “Don’t know that I have a leg to stand on given that I nearly throttled Barnes for being fake married to my five-year-old.”

That drew a grin from his friend. “They must’ve been _really_ exhausted to fall asleep with all the commotion.”

Tony nodded throwing one of the discarded blankets over the kids. “Let’s get the rest of them to bed before Rhodey thinks it’s a good idea to try Val’s death whiskey.”

“It’s not that bad.”

“Anything that can make you dance is strong enough to kill a man, Rogers.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it <3 Comments make my world go round x


	25. The Cameo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harley and Wanda go on an adventure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, please remember that we’re going on hiatus until maybe Christmas. I’m sorry about that! I hope you enjoy this, though!

**Chapter Twenty-Five: The Cameo**

“Come _on_ , Davy,” Wanda grinned at him. “It’ll be fun.”

Harley sighed. “I don’t know, Didi. It sounds a little risky.”

Wanda flopped down on to Peter’s bottom bunk and didn’t say anything.

They were hiding out in his brother’s room while everyone else milled around the house and were generally loud or too energetic. Wanda had wanted some quiet and he’d agreed so they’d come upstairs. He had been trying to keep his brother in the loop a little more, and Pete had said that he didn’t mind if they used his room as a refuge.

Still, there was a difference between hiding upstairs and _plotting_ upstairs.

“You miss it that bad?” he finally asked.

The brunette smiled a little mournfully. “When I was in the UK, I went out a lot. It was fun. I miss the freedom.”

“You have freedom,” Harley reminded her. “You just also have, uh, parents.”

Wanda rolled her eyes. “They’re the opposite of freedom. They take care of me and make sure I’ve eaten, I’m sleeping, and being _social_. It’s—infuriating.”

He nodded; it was hard to adjust to having normal parents instead of a mother who was gone all the time, he couldn’t imagine going from complete independence to having people she could rely on.

“I’m _grateful_ ,” Wanda continued. “But, you’re leaving and I want to do something _fun_.”

“We’re not legal,” Harley frowned pulling his laptop off of Pete’s desk. “We’d need IDs.”

His best friend sighed. “I just miss the music and the freedom of being in clubs, I know it’s just a…pipe dream? Is that the right expression?”

“It is,” he nodded without looking up as he worked. “Where would we even go?”

“There’s a club in the Upper East Side, it’s called ‘The Cameo’, Mom and Carol were talking about it. Apparently, it used to be some sort of dive bar and became really posh,” Wanda sat up and stared at him. “I want to go _do_ something.”

“The Cameo,” he repeated, ignoring her desperation in favor of his work. “How would we get there? Upper East is kinda far from the tower.”

That apparently stumped her. “We could take a cab?”

“Yeah?” Harley grinned, he was almost done. “You could stay over and we could sneak out after lights out.”

“It could work,” Wanda leaned forward. “But, we’d still need—”

“These?” he asked turning the screen so she could see his work; two immaculate fake IDs putting them at twenty-one and twenty-two. “I can get them printed in the garage when no one’s around—the security’s a little less intense here than at the tower.”

The smile his best friend gave him was blinding. “Yes!”

“Okay, we need a plan,” Harley felt excitement bubbling in his chest as he joined her on the bed; it had been a long time since he’d broken any rules and done something adventurous.

 

“We’ve got dorm room shopping to do before he leaves,” Pepper sighed as they headed up the stairs. “Is he all packed, do you think?”

Tony shook his head. “I doubt it. He’s a responsible kid, but he’s still a kid; I don’t think he actually wants to leave.”

“I know,” his wife frowned. “Are we doing the right thing?”

“Yes,” he said firmly, but his resolve melted at they reached the landing. “No? I don’t know. All the books say that we should be helping them progress. This is progression, right?”

“Right,” Pepper nodded. “I’m glad Nat and Steve agreed to let us have Wanda until tomorrow.”

“I don’t think they could’ve stopped her,” Tony laughed. “They really wanted one last hurrah before he leaves. Doesn’t matter how much we tell them that phones and planes are a thing, hell he’s only a two-hour _drive_ from here.”

“Four hours, Tony,” she chided.

“Only if you follow traffic laws,” he grinned at her, then turned to their eldest son’s bedroom door, it was ajar and the light was on. “The other kids passed out already; it’s only nine-thirty.”

“It’s been a long day,” Pepper told him softly; it had been too, the younger kids had started worrying about life without their brother and the stress had been draining for everyone. “We should let them know we’re going to bed.”

He smiled and moved towards the bedroom. “Hey Bambino—”

The sight that met him caused him to stop talking. Harley and Wanda were both sound asleep at different ends of the bed. Wanda was curled onto her side, facing away from them, her hair splayed out. Harley lay on his stomach, one arm hanging off the bed, his phone on the floor. It wasn’t exactly uncommon for the two of them to have unplanned sleepovers; usually, Harley was supposed to sleep in Peter’s room, but more often than not he ended up passing out in his own bed beside his best friend. Tony never had a problem with it, they were sleeping after all.

Pepper switched the light off. “C’mon, let’s let them sleep.”

Tony took her hand and shut his son’s door.

 

“Think it’s safe to get up?” Wanda whispered about five minutes after his parents had left.

Harley sat up and turned his bedside lamp on. “Yeah, you go change.”

Didi didn’t need to be told twice, she hopped out of bed and slipped into the bathroom where she’d stashed her clothes for the night. Harley pulled on black jeans, a crimson shirt, and one of his dressier jackets; his phone and wallet tucked into his pockets, he was all set to go. Next was to set the bed up so it looked like they were still in it, which would work if one of his parents decided to do a quick bed check, but would fail spectacularly if they actually turned the light on. Pillows were stuffed under the blankets to make shift two bodies.

The plan was going perfectly.

“Ready to go?” Wanda asked him as she stepped out of the ensuite.

His throat felt like it was closing as he saw her.

She’d opted for a scarlet dress with a black leather jacket over top and some heeled knee-high boots. Her jewelry glinted in the light from the lamp; a couple of bracelets and a gold chained necklace with a ruby in the center—a birthday gift from Nat and Steve—she looked completely out of his league with her hair hanging in soft ringlets down her back.

“Davy?” she raised an eyebrow at him as she moved closer. “Are you ready to go?”

“Huh?” his voice came out an octave higher, but he cleared his throat and tried again. “Uh, yeah, all set. Let’s go.”

“Take your watch off,” Wanda reminded him gesturing to his wrist. “Tony tracks them, doesn’t he?”

Harley nodded and slipped the custom timepiece off and lay it on his nightstand. “Alright, let’s do this.”

The plan was simple; they stepped out onto his balcony and Wanda floated both of them down ninety-three floors to the street where they hailed a cab. Harley paid the driver three times the fair to a block away from the club in cash; he didn’t want anyone remembering who they were or where they were going.

It was as they arrived to the nondescript building with no windows, a sketchy dark stairwell leading downwards, and a white on black sign with peeling letters spelling out ‘The Cameo’ that Harley started to worry.

“You’re sure this is the right place?” he whispered as he started down the stairs.

“Yes,” Wanda said confidently. “Just remember to be relaxed.”

“Relaxed,” he repeated softly, although he felt anything but.

They reached a dark metal door with a large, leather-clad bouncer leaning on it. The man looked huge in the light of the single bulb that hung from the ceiling, but he grinned when he saw them approaching.

“Haven’t seen you two before,” the bouncer said gruffly. “You kids know where you are?”

Harley gave him what he hoped was a confident smile. “Yeah, we’re looking to have some low-profile fun.”

“Low-profile, huh?” but the man was locked onto his face now, and somehow he had a feeling they weren’t about to get carded.

“Yeah, out of the way, good drinks, great music, no vultures lurking around, that kind of thing. Know where we could find a place like that?” he said in an imitation of his Dad dealing with reporters.

Wanda smirked beside him, but only said, “Hm, maybe we _are_ in the wrong place.”

The bouncer gave them a complicit smile, but stepped away from the door and opened it for them. “What you famous or something?”

“No, of course not,” Wanda said as she stepped through. “We’re just out for a good time, right?”

Harley just tilted his head towards her and said. “I don’t even _know_ anyone famous.”

That got the man laughing. “The name’s Sam, you let me know if you have any trouble, Mr. Stark.”

“Thanks Sam,” he told him sincerely and followed Wanda into the club.

The interior of the club was so loud he could feel the beat in his bones as they walked towards what appeared to be a coat check. They handed over their jackets and followed the music until they found the dancefloor. Wanda looked absolutely ecstatic as they stepped inside; her smile was wide and eyes shone with wonder and excitement.

“Well?” he said loudly as he leaned towards her.

“It’s everything I wanted!” she shouted back and took his hand to lead him towards the dancefloor.

Harley didn’t bother trying to fight her; it was intoxicating to be a part of this world.

He’d never been clubbing, but he was certain that clubbing with Wanda was a different experience than with anyone else. She was like a completely different person—no, she was like _herself_ surrounded by people possessed by music and free of worries. It was no wonder she had wanted to come here so badly; she danced and jumped up and down with the best of them, ordering fruity drinks and doing shots.

The Cameo was definitely high end; if the classy bouncer and the coat check hadn’t tipped him off. He swore he saw a few big names by the bar, on the floor, and in booths, but he didn’t want to disturb them any more than he wanted to be bothered. The music was so loud it was like he could feel it physically moving his body as he danced—at first with just Wanda, but after a while with other people as well, it was easy to just let go and have fun with complete strangers. Bodies crowded the floor, there was dry ice smoke clouding the room, the strobe lights flitted between pinks and purples to deep reds, blues, and greens.

He didn’t get carded all night, even as he ordered some of the most obscure alcoholic drinks just for the sake of knowing what they tasted like. Harley was having the very best time celebrating his last hurrah with his best friend and club full of strangers who didn’t care that he was Tony Stark’s son. He danced with some girl named Meghan, then with an Alice, and ended up kissing a Lisa for a while. It had been too long since he’d made out with anyone, but somewhere throughout the night his shirt had disappeared and somewhere between Fiona—Farrah? Someone anyway—and his phone reminding him that it was two in the morning, he’d gotten lipstick on his collarbone. Not that he really cared, it was all a little blurry even though he’d tried to stay hydrated, the two blue shots that had tasted like gasoline and nail polish had done a number on his ability to sequence events.

It took him a while to locate Wanda, she was chatting up three guys in an attempt to get them onto the dance floor and, by the looks of it, they were ready to jump off of the Empire State Building if she asked them to. Her hair was a little wilder and her cheeks were flushed, but overall she seemed fine—not that he didn’t trust that she could take care of herself.

“Hey Didi,” he came up beside her. “We gotta go, it’s two and we’ll be missed.”

“Oh! Okay,” she said brightly and giggled. “You lost your shirt, Davy.”

“I did, didn’t I?” he laughed.

One of the guys she’d been talking to looked like he was about to get testy.

“We actually have somewhere to be tomorrow,” Harley said seriously. “Or, today. Depending on how you look at it. Sorry, fellas.”

“We have to go,” Wanda nodded and giggled again, she shot the three men a smile. “Bye!”

Harley grabbed her another water at the bar before heading over to Sam and asking the bouncer to call them a cab. He was grateful he still had enough brain power for that.

“Had a good time, Mr. Stark?”

“The best!” Wanda cut in still a little giggly and not terribly steady on her feet. “We danced. That was nice.”

“It was, wasn’t it?” Harley said as he pulled his jacket on over his bare chest; he hadn’t bothered trying to track down his shirt, and Wanda had needed his help with her own coat.

“Glad you liked it, remember to give us an endorsement when you can. Just not to the riff-raff, y’hear?” the bouncer winked.

“Of course, Sam,” he grinned. “It was good to meet you.”

“You too, Mr. Stark,” it was still weird to hear someone older than him call him that. “Your ride’s here.”

The ride back to the tower wasn’t eventful, thankfully, but the driver insisted on dropping them off out front rather than a block away. Harley wasn’t sure why, but he didn’t really have the energy to protest. He was starting to get really sleepy and Wanda had fallen asleep on his shoulder mid-giggle fit about how he had red on his neck.

It was easy enough to gain access to the tower again and take the personal elevator up to the 93rd floor, FRI didn’t even say anything. He’d come up with an excuse to give her if she’d questioned his whereabouts, but the AI remained silent the whole ride up and he and Wanda were talking anyway.

“It was _so_ fun,” she said happily as the elevator stopped, she leaned heavily into him, but he wasn’t ready and they stumbled out into the hall leading to the living room.

Harley laughed quietly at her exuberance. “ _I know_ , it was great. We should definitely go again.”

“Again, huh?” Tony’s unamused voice cut through the euphoric haze his brain had fallen into.

“Oh shit, that’s your dad.” Wanda said still somewhat giggly. “We’re in _trouble_.”

“You have _no_ idea,” Aunty Nat said, she was standing next to Tony, Mom was on his other side and Uncle Steve was beside Aunty Nat.

Wanda had apparently noticed Steve because she repeated herself. “Oh shit. That’s _my_ dad.”

If he hadn’t still been a little hazy and crashing from his night out, Harley would’ve laughed at how surprised Steve looked or how easily Captain Freedom and Ground Rules softened.

Tony, however, looked _pissed_. “How drunk are you?”

“Uh, not really?” Harley said honestly. “I stopped drinking a while before we left. We took a cab too, so neither of us drove.”

Tony still looked angry, but his mom deflated somewhat. “Good, that was very responsible of you.”

“Responsible!?” Tony shouted.

“Tony, you’ll wake the other kids,” mom shushed him, there was reproach in her voice. “They’re in one piece, we can wait until tomorrow to yell at them. When they’re fully sober and able to fully appreciate the consequences of their actions.”

Harley blinked, he knew he should have been saying _something_ , but he wasn’t too sure what at that precise moment.

“We’re going to take Wanda home,” Uncle Steve said as Aunty Nat moved forward to let Wanda lean on her instead. “She doesn’t seem coherent enough to be lectured right now.”

Aunty Nat rolled her eyes. “I’m not sure you’re going to have enough _resolve_ to lecture her tomorrow.”

“Lectures suck,” Wanda commented, but she leaned against her mom and allowed both of her parents to drag her back towards the elevator. “Good night, Davy!”

“Night, Didi,” he called to her before turning back to his parents. “I’m tired.”

“That’s the _least_ of your worries,” Tony ground out, but he pointed towards the stairs. “Go to your room.”

 

As soon as the bedroom door shut, Tony felt all of his anger seep away from him and tiredness replace it. He had been so scared when he’d gone to check on the kids and found Harley’s room devoid of actual children. FRIDAY had been less than helpful, apparently Harley had managed to find loopholes in the security protocols and snuck out without the AI being able to detect where he’d gone. The kid had taken his watch off, the one that was supposed to keep him _safe_.

In the end, Pepper had convinced him that Harley and Wanda had probably just gone out and would be back. She’d been right of course, but that hadn’t made it easy when he’d had to call Nat and Steve to tell them that his son had kidnapped their daughter out for a night out on the town.

Once he’d figured out they were gone, it became easier to piece their plan together; they’d exploited Tony’s laxness about the bed-sharing, pretended to be asleep, and snuck out through the balcony window. A little research had found the fake ID templates on Harley’s personal server—the kid lost privacy privilege the moment he’d _lied_ and _snuck out_.

“Tony,” Pepper said softly, pulling him out of his own head. “Honey, it’s going to be okay.”

“Is it?” he looked at her desperately.

She smiled that knowing smile he loved so much; it always told him that she knew exactly what she was doing and it was going to be okay, no matter how much he screwed up.

“Yes, Tony, I promise,” Pepper rested a hand on his arm. “You know, he’s probably just acting out because he’s leaving and doesn’t want to face those emotions.”

“Yeah?” that sounded familiar. “He’s never done anything like this before, either. It was just so—so damn irresponsible and _dangerous_ , Pep.”

“I know,” she agreed, “but I also know that he didn’t mean to make us worry. He just wanted to do something and did it.”

Tony hung his head. “Sounds a lot like me.”

“Maybe a little, but that just means you know how he feels, right?”

That was true; he did. And, yelling wouldn’t have solved the situation with him so he doubted it would solve it with Harley. Whenever he had rough nights, they had almost always been some sort of cry for help, a way to escape his situation. The kid probably wanted some space from all the planning and packing.

“I’m gonna get him a glass of water and some painkillers,” he sighed. “He’s gonna need those. We’re supposed to be heading down to Boston tomorrow.”

“You’re a good father, Tony,” his wife kissed him on the cheek and the world felt a little brighter in spite of it all.

 

Harley was in so much trouble.

A mountain of trouble. A mount Everest mountain of trouble.

 _Tony’s going to kill me_ , he thought worriedly as he pulled his phone out from under his pillow, god his head hurt.

The screen was too bright even with the brightness all the way down, but he needed to text Wanda as soon as possible before her parents got to her.

**Hey, just tell them it was my idea, okay?**

The response came faster than he anticipated. **_What? No!_**

**Look, Tony’s gonna yell anyway. Let’s not have Steve mad at you too, okay?**

**Just let me take one for the team here. I’m going away anyways, if you get grounded it might stick, but they’ll go easy on me.**

**_You sure?_ **

**Positive.**

**_Okay, I think they’re coming in to talk to me._ **

**It was all my idea, Didi. Don’t worry about it.**

A knock sounded on his door as he stuck the phone back under his pillow and lay down quickly.

The door opened anyway.

“We know you’re awake, Harls,” Tony said as he walked into the room and sat at the edge of the bed. “C’mon, your head’s probably killing you. Drink some water, Bambino.”

 _Bambino_ , Tony didn’t _sound_ mad. “I thought you’d be yelling by now.”

Mom was behind him and she smiled. “Water first, then we’re going to _talk_.”

Harley sat up cautiously and took the glass Tony offered him. Neither of them seemed angry, actually Tony seemed pretty calm as he held out two pills for him to take as well. Both adults waited until he’d downed all of his water before saying anything.

“So we’re not happy, buddy,” Tony told him seriously, “but we’re not going to yell either. As far as FRI could tell you only had alcohol in your system.”

Harley blinked in surprise. “Um yeah, I had a—a couple of shots, but that’s it.”

“You didn’t do any drugs?” Mom asked him as she sat down and looked him in the eyes. “Please don’t lie to me, sweetheart.”

 _Oh god_ , his heart stopped for a moment; his parents weren’t angry with him, they were scared.

“No, I’m not lying. I didn’t do any drugs, I swear,” Harley grabbed his mom’s hands and looked imploringly at Tony.

“Just so we’re clear,” Tony continued. “Sneaking out without your StarkWatch is not only incredibly irresponsible, but also very stupid. You could’ve gotten hurt and we wouldn’t have known.”

He swallowed thickly. “I’m sorry.”

“Are you sorry you snuck out or sorry you got caught?” the man wasn’t giving him even an inch.

Harley _was_ sorry he’d made them worry, but he wasn’t really sorry he had gone because it had been a really fun night. Even if his head was still pounding and he was in trouble.

When he didn’t answer right away, Tony prompted him again. “Bambino?”

“I—I just wanted to have a—a good time with Wanda,” he told them honestly. “I didn’t mean for you to worry.”

“But you knew we’d say no, Harls,” Mom said seriously. “And, you did it anyway.”

“We just—” he sighed, there was no way out with his parents. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done it.”

“No, you shouldn’t have,” Tony agreed. “We’re going to need those fake IDs, Bambino.”

“I, uh, yeah,” he reached over to his discarded pair of jeans and pulled his wallet out and handed the card back. “Um, Didi’s got hers.”

“Okay, we’ll make sure Steve gets it,” his mom patted his hands. “Do you want to tell us why you snuck out last night?”

“Or, where your shirt is,” Tony raised an eyebrow, although he was texting someone—Harley assumed Steve. “Or, even, why you told Wanda to say it was your idea to go out when it was actually hers?”

He froze. “She—no, it was my idea. I planned the whole thing.”

“Oh you’re still in trouble, Bambino.” Tony assured him.

For some reason the statement made Harley’s blood boil. “Why do you keep calling me that?”

Tony blinked at that. “I didn’t know you took issue with it.”

“Harley, sweetheart,” Mom said softly, she was really calm considering how worked up he felt. “Your dad’s always called you ‘Bambino’.”

“Only when he’s—not mad,” he retorted, some of his insecurity bled through. “He’s probably too mad to be my dad right now.”

He felt Tony’s hand on his shoulder. “Hey, Harls, I’m never going to be too mad to be your dad, Bambino. Never. Ever.”

“Okay,” Harley took a breath. “How did you know that I told her to say it was my idea?”

Mom looked a little frustrated at that. “Your father—”

“You snuck out,” his dad said matter-of-factly. “You endangered both yourself _and_ Wanda by doing that, _and_ you abused my trust. You forfeit your rights to privacy for a little bit when that happens.”

He wanted to yell that it wasn’t fair, that they couldn’t just read his text messages and invade his life like that, but it actually made sense; they’d thought he might’ve done drugs just a few minutes ago.

“Not forever,” Mom said quickly. “We were actually just trying to figure out how long you’ve been planning your little excursion and if anyone else was involved.”

“We won’t be going through your life again, unless you do something _else_ incredibly stupid,” Dad said firmly.

“I didn’t want her to get in trouble,” he said finally, keeping his eyes on his bedspread. “I knew you were going to be mad anyway, but—but Steve really likes Wanda and he’s not really good at the whole discipline thing, so I thought if it was my fault then he wouldn’t yell at her.”

Dad chuckled, he actually _laughed_. “Oh, Bambino, Wanda is definitely in trouble. It was _very_ irresponsible of both of you to sneak out like that.”

“ _But_ ,” Mom cut in. “Not irrational; you wanted to spend time with your best friend and have some fun. That’s normal. We still worried and it was still wrong of you to go at all, much less go without your watch.”

“So how much trouble am I in?” he chanced a glance up at his parents.

“I don’t know, did you learn your lesson?” his dad raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t want you guys to worry so I won’t sneak out, and I’ll always keep my watch on,” Harley said tentatively.

Mom smiled. “Good, because we really didn’t want to punish you the day before you left for college.”

He smiled and nodded. “I _am_ really sorry.”

“We know,” his dad told him as he put an arm around him and his mom did the same.

Mom kissed him on the forehead. “We still love you. Now up and at ‘em, we’ve got a big day ahead!”

“What?” his head still really hurt and it couldn’t have been later than seven thirty.

Dad smirked as he stood up to follow Mom out of the room. “The downside of partying the night before you have to do something important is that the next day’s plans are still on the agenda. Downstairs in twenty, Harls.”

 _Now_ , he regretted going out last night, and he had a feeling his parents both knew it too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was really fun to write! I hope you liked it :)  
> Prompts and ideas are always welcome. Comments make my world go 'round <3


	26. Throwback to Becoming a Stark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Throwback chapter to the twins at school after becoming Starks in the eyes of the media.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is late! I’m sorry! I was planning on getting writing done during the holidays but the semester wrecked me. I’m so sorry! I’m back at school now too for winter semester, but hopefully I’ll be able to update more.
> 
> THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR ALL OF THE LOVE. Honestly without the comments and support, this chapter may not have gotten written until July. The comments matter, they’re so welcome and I’m so grateful to all of you for sticking with me.
> 
> Quick notes:  
> 1\. I am NOT abandoning this story, there IS a plan.
> 
> 2\. You’re always welcome to leave requests, I’ll see if I can work them in.
> 
> 3\. There WILL be content warnings added to chapter summaries in the future as stuff progresses so keep an eye on those.
> 
> 4\. Minor content warning, but necessary in today’s climate: there is a small mention of past fictional wars, it’s nothing big, but I rather you know.

** Throwback to Becoming a Stark **

 

_ The stream started with blurry footage of a ceiling before the camera flipped to Peter Stark’s face. _

_ “Hey everyone, so I’m sure you guys know about—well, I’m a Stark now. Peter Stark, officially,” he said a little awkwardly, but his grin was one of genuine happiness. “It’s super early so I’m still in bed, but I wanted to say hi before the media circus—that’s what my dad calls it—starts. Mom said I’m allowed to livestream, but I can’t have anyone except family in the videos without written consent, that makes sense but it’s also sorta inconvenient because what if—“ _

_ A groan sounded from somewhere out of frame. “Pete, I swear to god, shut  up!” _

_“ You’re  in  my room, Bub—Harley!”_

_“Because you couldn’t sleep and  needed to talk. What the hell are you doing anyway?”_

_ “Livestreaming,” Peter replied matter-of-factly. “Mom said I  could.” _

_ “Did she say you could at whatever-the-fuck-o’clock-it-is?” _

_ The sound of a door bursting open cut through the conversation followed by the sound of chaos. _

_ “Morgan?” Harley cried out. _

_“What’re you doing here, Morg? ”  Peter moved the camera around frantically as he attempted to get up._

_ An impact sounded followed by, “Gigi?! What are you doing?” _

_ “Pretending to wake you up so I can sleep,” came the muffled reply. _

_ “Pete’s livestreaming, Gige.” _

_ “Oh,” a blond head came into frame followed by an exhausted looking Gwen Stark. “Hi whoever the hell is on twitter at six-thirty in the morning.” _

_ Peter made a face at the camera. “Well, that’s probably it for now. Good morning from the Starks, I guess?” _

_ “That’s so corny Pete—“ _

_ The stream cut. _

 

“Up and at ‘em you four!” Pepper called as she walked into Peter’s bedroom fully dressed.

It wasn’t uncommon for the kids to avoid waking up by hiding under blankets, it  was the first time they had all decided to hide in one bedroom, though.

“No,” Morgan whined.

“That sounds like the worst plan ever, Mom,” Harley added as he burrowed further into the covers of the bottom bunk.

“Can you not, please,” Peter chimed in with his good manners.

Pepper chuckled. “You all need to get up, I’m sorry, but everyone has school and work. Is Gwen in here?”

“No,” her eldest daughter responded grudgingly. “Gwen is dead, please try again never.”

 

It took longer than usual to get everyone out the door. 

Peter wasn’t exactly put out about it, but it sucked to have to rush because Gwen refused to get ready. In the end, she  _did_ get dressed in something that wasn’t pajamas, but it was a close call. He loved his sister; she was smart and helpful, and always had his back, but she wasn’t anywhere near the ballpark of morning person.

Getting to school was fine, even if they did have to rush to English and were barely in their seats when the bell rang. It was strange being referred to as “Mr. Stark” at school, though.

“It’s weird,” Peter told his sister, Ned and MJ at lunch. “I feel like I should be looking for dad instead of answering questions.”

“It’s pretty weird,” Gwen agreed tiredly, she still looked mostly zombified.

“But isn’t it cool to be called by your real last name?” Ned asked. “Plus you guys are totally famous and that’s gotta be awesome!”

“Yeah Ned,” Gigi sighed and pushed her tray away, food untouched. “Awesome.”

“You okay?” MJ asked while glaring at Ned. “You look sick.”

“I’m fine, just tired.”

Peter nodded. “You couldn’t sleep, right?”

“Not at all, I was up half the night in the garage.”

“That’s so cool though! What do you do in the garage? Do you get to work on superhero gear? I bet Mr. Stark has awesome superhero stuff for you to do—“

“No, Ned,” Gwen said patiently as she lay her head down on the table. “I’m working on a new engin design based on the arc reactor engin Daddy’s developed.”

“That doesn’t sound like it’s conducive to sleep,” MJ pointed out.

“It’s—“

Whatever Gigi was going to say was interrupted by a group of other students coming up to their table.

“Hey you’re the Starks right?” one of the Seniors in the group asked.

“Uh—yeah?” Peter answered uncertainly.

“Oh god no,” Gwen said quietly enough that only he could hear.

“Yeah this is them!” Ned confirmed enthusiastically.

MJ continued to stare at the group deadpan. “What do you want?”

“So...do you guys actually ever see Mr Stark?” One guy near the front asked.

Peter blinked. “Uh, yeah? He’s our dad. We see him every day.”

“He’s not your dad,” another student piped up. 

Gwen sighed loudly but didn’t bother responding.

MJ on the other hand was having none of this bullshit. “Legally, yes he is their dad and it’s none of your business regardless. That press conference made it _very_  clear that Peter and Gwen’s lives aren’t public domaine. They could have their lawyers tying you up in lawsuits right now.”

The kid in question raised her hands defensively. “Sorry, I just—“

“Leave.” MJ glared.

“Uh, hey, we’re just curious, you know?”

Ned turned eagerly to Peter. “ Some  questions are okay, right? Right Peter?”

“Y-yeah, uh, sure.” He tried valiantly to ignore his sister’s accusatory glare before she hid her face in her arms again.

“So, like it’s not a publicity stunt?”

Gwen’s head shot up from the table and she glared at the senior with such hatred in her eyes that Peter was sure she was going to kill him by just looking at him.

“No,” he said quickly. “It’s not. Um—Gige, maybe don’t—“

“Don’t _what_ ?”

“People ask stupid stuff all the time, Dad told us about this, remember?”

She sighed, but then a smirk drew itself onto her lips. “He _did_ say morons would ask us stupid shit, didn’t he?”

The group that had gathered chuckled while the guy who had asked the question shrank in on himself, clearly not used to being taken down a few pegs by a girl half his size.

Ned, undeterred, pushed head. “Okay great, um, who’s next?”

MJ rounded on him. “They’re not a fucking zoo attraction Ned, there is no _next_ !”

“Does your dad let you drink because he used to drink underage all the time?”

Peter felt his jaw drop; how could anyone ask that? Tony had the liquor cabinet under lock, key, voice lock, biometric lock, and probably a laser grid.

Gwen beat him to answering, by a mile. “Oh yeah, we had mimosas for breakfast today.”

Only half of the group seemed to understand it was a joke and Peter thought he might actually pass out from the sheer anxiety of being under a microscope like this. Just as he was about to try to do any form of damage control, or maybe throw up right on the lunch table, MJ squeezed his hand.

_ This is fine._

It gave him the little bit of courage it took to chuckle—a little half heartedly—and add. “And if we’re cranky, he’ll rub whiskey on our gums.”

That got everyone laughing, Ned looked like he was on top of the world. Peter never understood why Ned wanted to be popular so badly, but he was grateful that his best friend never envisioned himself popular _without_ him. Whatever Ned wanted or did, he wanted it with Peter. At least he had a true best friend, even if said best friend was enjoying the idea of fame a lot more than Peter was enjoying the reality of it.

They answered a few more questions light heartedly. People had finally started getting the gist of it: he and Gwen weren’t going to take stupid questions seriously.

There were questions about if they got to visit SI labs—they did, but under supervision—if they had to go to meetings—they didn’t because they weren’t running the company—and if they’d gotten to travel to cool places for weekend trips—they’d been to some cool museums in Boston last weekend.

Just as he started to really relax, a shortgirl with blond dreadlocks that looked—in Peter’s private opinion—really out of place on her spoke up.

“How does it feel to know you’re only rich because our country’s military industrial complex makes money off of killing millions of innocent people in less privileged countries?”

Peter froze—he’d never even considered that he would have to answer for the decades of war profiteering Stark Industries had done. “Well, I—“

Ned looked like he had blue-screened, apparently it had never occurred to him either. 

MJ’s hand found his again under the table and he couldn’t help the wave of gratitude he felt as she said, “That’s irrelevant as it occurred before anyone in this room was born and  SI has taken a completely new direction under Pepper Potts anyway.”

Gwen, however, snorted and looked directly at their would-be attacker.

“It feels pretty good actually, on slow days we pull out darts and throw them at a world map to decide which innocent developing country we’ll bomb next.”

 

Peter felt utterly drained by the time Happy picked them up from Decathlon practice. All he wanted to do was go home and nap for five hours, preferably alone in his room. He wasn’t exactly an introvert—actually, he was pretty sure he was an extrovert—but he wanted some quiet time more than anything after having been asked so many questions.

“Hey kids, how was your day?” Happy asked once they were buckled in.

“Bad,” Gwen informed him categorically. “People wouldn’t stop bugging us and I’m so freaking tired.”

Their driver-slash-uncle frowned. “Should we talk to the school? We can do that. We probably should  do that. It’s not safe—“

“It wasn’t that bad, Uncle Happy,” Peter told him quickly. “Gige is just cranky because she didn’t sleep.”

“Should’ve rubbed whiskey on my gums,” his sister muttered darkly, but a giggle escaped her at the last second.

Her laugh set him off, causing their uncle to glance confusedly at them in the rear view.

Being a Stark was an adjustment, but at least he had a twin to share it with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that was up to standard?
> 
> Once again, thank you so much ❤️💕 I am hoping to get the next chapter up in the next two weeks, but only goodness knows given my workload.
> 
> x


	27. Happy for Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back to the present, a few weeks into college, Harley has some conversations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so this was written in about an hour during a much needed mental break from my University studies. It's probably not great, but this is it for this week, sorry. 
> 
> Some info:  
> Harley's nickname from Wanda is Davy because of Harley Davidsons (the motorcycles)  
> Wanda's nickname from Harley is Didi because it was the only childish two syllable name he could think of.  
> Wanda alternates between calling Steve "Dad" and "Steve"

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: Happy for Me**

“How’s that physics class going?”

Harley sighed. “It’s—going.”

“Harls, you need to focus on your work. This is your future we’re talking about—”

He cut his dad off quickly before he could get on a roll. “Dad, I _know_. Please—Just, just stop, okay?”

“Fine, but we need to talk about this,” there was a pause then his dad changed the subject. “Excited for the party this weekend? The twins are losing their minds about it in different ways over here.”

“It’s kind of close to midterms,” Harley muttered, but there was no conviction to the worry; he couldn’t exactly ditch his siblings’ birthday party.

“Pete and Gwendolyn want you here for it,” his father said seriously, his tone indicating that a lecture was incoming if he objected.

“I know, I know. I’ll be there. So, um—” he paused unsure about if he wanted to reopen the standing debate he’d been having with his parents—well his dad more specifically, his mom was pretty unmoved about the whole thing. “Have you changed your mind?”

“I haven’t,” Tony told him bluntly. “It would put the spotlight too heavily on the party and it’s not—”

“Dad, you _know_ it’s going to be a big event _anyway_ ,” Harley said frustrated.

“Yes, I do,” his father told him equally frustrated. “We just want it to be focused on the twins rather than on anything the tabloids can get their grubby hands on. Trust me, you don’t want you and Briana all over the news.”

“ _Bianca_ ,” he ground into the phone. “And, _you_ just don’t like her.”

“No,” Tony said seriously. “I don’t. I think she’s getting in the way of your studies and that she’s a bad influence, but your mother keeps telling me that you won’t listen to me if I tell you those things.”

“That’s the fourth time you’ve said exactly that sentence.” The anger was starting to get overwhelming.

“Regardless, it’s _your_ life apparently,” his dad didn’t sound terribly convinced about that fact. “You need to be here for four on Friday.”

“It _is_ my life, why is it so hard for you just to be happy for me?”

“Because it’s a _bad_ _decision_ , but you won’t listen to me!”

“Well, maybe I just don’t agree with you!”

“God, I don’t know why Pepper thought _I_ should call,” he heard his father grumble. “Look, Bambino, four on Friday. No girlfriend. Got it?”

“Yes, sir,” he rolled his eyes, and even though his dad couldn’t see, he was sure he could tell. “Bye.”

“Just—”

“Bye Dad,” Harley hung up and flung his phone to the other side of his bed; unwilling to answer if his father called back.

He wasn’t _trying_ to piss his dad off or to put a strain on their relationship, but he _wanted_ to have a normal college experience. All Tony seemed to care about was his future and all the big stuff that was just stressful. _Life_ had been stressful for so long, he just wanted something nice. _Bianca_ was nice.

“Hey Harley!” his girlfriend shouted as she stepped out of the bathroom fully dressed with a face full of immaculate makeup, she was far too happy for how frustrated he was.

Well, she was sort of nice.

“Hey, I’m right here,” he offered her a half-hearted grin.

“Your dad again?” she rolled her eyes when he nodded. “He really needs to loosen up. I thought Tony Stark was _cool_ you know? He sounds like a boring, overprotective middle-aged dad.”

“He _is_ an overprotective middle-aged dad,” Harley reminded her.

“Yeah, it’s boring,” Bianca informed him matter-of-factly as she grabbed her purse. “You know what isn’t boring though? Mercury’s party on Friday. You’re coming with me right?”

“Don’t you have class right now?” he deflected looking at the clock. “Calculus or something?”

“I’m not going, no point, I’m meeting Mercury for lunch to help plan the party. You _are_ coming with me, right?”

_So much for that strategy_ , Harley thought dejectedly as he got up and walked over to his desk to pretend to organize the mess of papers there.

Every single assignment he collected was loaded with red pen and either the words ‘See me’ or a mediocre mark that left him barely passing. God, he was pathetic at actually getting his life together.

“Harley? Earth to Harley,” Bianca called coming to stand next to him. “The party.”

“I can’t,” he told her, not looking away from his physics paper that Professor Henderson had made extensive notes on and recommended he drop by during office hours.

“Uhg, is this about your marks again? I _told_ you, it’s fine. Everyone gets average grades, it’s not a big deal. You _have to_ stop worrying about studying so much.”

That was the thing, all he seemed to do was worry about studying while going and doing something else.

Instead of telling her that, he said. “No, it’s not. My—uh, my brother and sister are having their birthday party this weekend.”

“Oh, well I guess that makes sense,” she nodded, but didn’t look particularly satisfied. “You going to invite me?”

Harley sighed. “I can’t. It’s a—my parents are regulating the guest-list.”

“So?”

“Look, things are strained with them right now and they don’t want me bringing anyone. Hell, I don’t even want to go, but I can’t disappoint Gwen and Peter, okay?”

She gave him a searching look and put her hand on his face comfortingly, but then she patted his cheek. “You worry too much, but Mercury’s party is gonna be more fun anyway.”

“Yeah probably. You’re gonna be late for your lunch date, aren’t you?”

“Oh yeah! Bye, Harley. I’ll see you,” she didn’t finish the sentence with a time or day, instead she pressed a hurried kiss to his lips and strode out of the room, leaving him standing at his desk.

A few seconds later, he heard the front door slam.

_At least she didn’t freak out_ , he thought dejectedly.

It was starting to feel like no one in his life was ever going to be satisfied with anything he did. Either his parents were going to be disappointed in him for being bad at school or having a girlfriend they didn’t approve of, or Bianca was going to be pissed at him for not coming to enough social events with her and worrying too much about his family and school.

_I need a pick me up so bad_.

That was the thought that had him retrieving his phone and calling Wanda without concern for the time or if she was busy.

“Hey Davy,” she answered after a few rings, she sounded pretty happy; that was good.

“Hey Didi,” he tried to match the happiness in her voice and found himself smiling a little automatically at saying her childish nickname. “What’s up?”

“I don’t know, you’re the one who called.”

“I just—needed to talk to someone.”

“Tony?” her voice was soft.

“Y-yeah, it’s just…you know how he is.”

“Weirdly strict and worried about you being away from home. Yeah, Tony’s been calling Dad a lot to talk about it. I don’t think he’s really helping, though; I’m still living at home so it’s not so bad for him.”

“I just wish he’d fucking _listen_ ,” Harley griped. “He hates that I have a girlfriend, he’s always complaining about Bianca and about me going to stuff, not focusing on school or doing anything he thinks is important. It’s like he doesn’t care about what I think.”

“I think he’s just worrying,” she told him sympathetically. “Steve does that sometimes; he just freaks out about stuff that I don’t think is a big deal, but it’s just because he cares. How is Bianca anyway?”

“She’s fine, busy planning some big bash this weekend.”

“That sounds fun, she seems like a really outgoing person.”

It felt a little like Wanda was the only person trying to listen to him. He missed that.

“Hey, Didi, I miss you, why don’t you come visit? I have to go to the twins’ party on Friday, you could come back with me.”

Wanda seemed to consider for a second. “There’s not really anywhere to stay and I’ll need to get back here for Tuesday morning.”

“You could fly back, I bet you could take the jet.”

“I still wouldn’t have anywhere to stay,” she reasoned.

He rolled his eyes. “Stay here? I have an apartment, remember?”

“That—No, I cannot do that,” her voice was firm.

“What? Why not?”

“You have a girlfriend,” she said if it was obvious. “It wouldn’t be proper.”

“Didi, come _on_ , it’s not nineteen-forty, you can—”

“No.”

He bristled. “God, why is everyone so fucking—”

“Harley,” she used his actual first name for the first time in months. “Everyone isn’t out to get you, okay?”

“Well it fucking feels like it,” he hung up and glared down at the essay he’d been looking at before.

Why was it that no one in his life could just be happy for him? Why couldn’t everyone see that he just wanted a normal life with a girlfriend and college friends?

Mrs. Henderson’s handwriting stared back up at him, _See me during office hours._

Her office hours were in an hour, maybe he could at least do that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope this was alright. Thank you for all your continued support!


	28. Insecurities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter deals with some insecurities

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is pretty gratuitous and transitional. Hopefully you like it!

**Chapter Twenty-Eight: Insecurities**

Peter was freaking the hell out and it was getting on Gwen’s nerves.

“Okay, but what if she says no?” her brother whined as he paced the length of the garage.

Gwen sighed as she stared at the underside of her car.

_Her car_.

Her beautiful _1966 Duetto Spider Alfa Romeo_ that was hers and no one else’s. And, it needed to be ready for Friday, but her brother wouldn’t stop _stressing_ about asking his almost girlfriend to their birthday party.

“Pete,” she said seriously as she rolled out from under the car and sat up. “I need to put in the undercarriage lights.”

“Sorry,” he said looking more like a kicked puppy than anything else.

Gwen put her head in her hands, uncaring that she’d have grease stains all over her face. “She’s not going to say no.”

“ _How_ could you know that? You _can’t_ know that!”

“She’s your _friend_ Pete! She’s not going to miss your birthday party!”

“I don’t want her to come as my _friend_!” he complained.

Gwen smirked. “No?”

Her brother’s hands flew to his mouth. “I didn’t say that.”

“You so did.”

“Help.”

“Just ask her out.”

“No?!”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“Hey MJ, it’s my birthday party this weekend and come with me as my date,” she said in her best imitation of his voice.

“My voice is not that high!”

“It’s getting higher the more you freak out.”

“You are _no help_!” Peter threw his hands up in the air.

She mirrored his actions. “Then stop bothering me for second rate advice and go ask someone who knows how to ask girls out!”

“Like who?!”

“Like _Mom!_ ”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.”

“You sound like Dad.”

“You’re annoying me and I need to do the undercarriage lights.”

“Fine,” her brother rolled his eyes. “It looks good, by the way.”

“Thanks,” she sighed as she rolled back under the convertible. “Send Morgan down if she isn’t busy, will you?”

“I thought you wanted to work in silence?”

Gwen snorted. “No, I want to work with Billy Joel and Queen blaring in the background, not listening to _you_ complain about how you can’t ask a girl who is pretty much already your girlfriend out.”

“Shut—shut up, Gigi.”

“Yeah, yeah. Go, already.”

“Fine, and um—” her brother paused at the door to the garage. “Thanks.”

“You owe me! FRI play something loud.”

Pink Floyd started blaring from the ceiling. She didn’t hear if her brother had anything else to say as she continued to work.

 

Peter did _not_ understand his twin. Sure they were siblings and the same age, but it was like she was from a whole other planet. Gwen basically worked through her feelings; she hyperfocused on her car or on new engine designs and ignored other people as much as she could. Still, she _was_ helpful. Even if she didn’t know how to help him ask MJ out, at least she listened to him complain before sending him to the person who _could_ help.

“Peter!” his mom smiled brightly as she looked up from her tablet.

She was sitting on the couch doing some work while Morgan played with her _K’nex_ blocks. His baby sister was building some sort of complicated amusement park by the looks of it.

“Hey Mom,” he smiled and sat down. “Hey Morg, Gigi said she’s in the garage if you wanted to watch her put the undercarriage lights in.”

“Finally!” Morgan grinned and jumped up, not bothering to pack away her toys before she disappeared down the hall to the private elevator.

Much to his surprise, his mom didn’t call Morgan back to clean up, instead she turned to him with a concerned expression.

“Petey, is everything okay with you?”

“Yeah Mom, I’m fine,” he told her earnestly, but the strain in his voice must’ve been evident because she didn’t look like she believed him.

“Peter Benjamin, I know you. Something is wrong and you’re not telling me what it is. You’re barely eating, you’re constantly pacing and chewing holes through your sleeves, you were just holed up in the garage with your sister for over an hour even though we both know she’s terrible company while she’s working on that car, and you’ve been patrolling _far too much_ lately for there not to be anything—”

“I—Mom, everything is—”

“Don’t you _dare_ ‘Mom everything is fine’ me, young man.”

“Okay, I’m starting to feel like Gigi sent me up here to get chewed out,” he mumbled, feeling a little guilty that his mom had worried so much about him. “I actually need your help, but it’s nothing bad. I promise.”

Had he really been acting _that_ anxious?

His mom let out a sigh of relief. “Alright, sweetheart, what is it? Is it school? Did something happen? I’m really concerned, are you doing _drugs_ —”

“IneedyourhelpaskingMJoutforFriday,” he told her hurriedly in order interrupt what was sure to be another tirade about how concerned about him she was.

“You—” a giggle escaped her lips. “You’ve been worrying for two whole weeks about how you were going to ask MJ to your party?”

“Yes?”

“Petey,” his mother tried to reign in her laughter. “I think you might need to focus on dealing with your anxiety a little more.”

“What?”

“I thought something was _wrong_ , sweetie.”

“Something _is_ wrong!” he whined, frustrated. “You’re not _listening_.”

“No, I am,” his mom assured him as she gave him a hug. “You’re alright. Asking MJ on a date is a big step and you want to ask her to your birthday party on Friday where there will be lots of people and that’s stressing you out too, right?”

He nodded.

“Well, you have something working to your advantage going in, you know.”

“I do?”

“MJ is already planning on coming to your party as your friend, isn’t she?”

“Probably? We did tell her, Ned and Betty, that they were invited.”

His mom smiled. “Then all you have to do is ask her if she wants to be your date to your party.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah ‘oh.’”

Peter rolled his eyes at that. “But I’m still nervous.”

“You’re going to be more nervous the longer you wait about it,” she informed him matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, okay.”

He was about to ask his mom about what they were planning to have for dinner—it was almost six—when his dad stomped in from the elevator leading to the rest of the building.

“That child,” Tony growled as he launched himself onto the couch on the other side of Pepper.

Peter blinked. “Me?”

“What?” his dad looked at him as though just realizing he was there. “What? No, not you. Unless you did something I’m supposed to be mad about too?”

“Nope, I’ve been good,” he grinned. “Right Mom? No worries here.”

“You mean aside from worrying your father and I half to death?” his mother smirked and turned to his dad. “Pete’s going to ask MJ to the party on Friday.”

“I thought she was already coming.”

“As his date.”

“Oh, nice,” his dad smiled at him. “Don’t do anything I would do—and don’t do anything I _wouldn’t_ do.”

“Grey area, I know,” Peter snorted. “Why are you mad, though?”

“I’m not mad,” Tony defended quickly.

“Okay, _who_ are you not mad at?”

“I’m not mad.”

“Why is Daddy mad?” Morgan asked as she reappeared in the living room and went back to her _K’nex_ , not particularly concerned about their dad’s potential anger.

“I’m _not_ mad—”

“Really?” Gigi asked as she followed Morgan to the floor. “Because you’re shouting.”

“Okay, enough,” their mom said sternly. “Your dad and I are going to talk in the office, you three figure out what you want for supper. There have to be at _least_ two vegetables involved.”

“Gross,” Gwen complained.

“Yuck,” Morgan whined.

“Yerg,” Peter found himself saying out of habit.

Pepper rolled her eyes and both of their parents walked off.

To her credit, Gwen waited until they had shut the door before she turned to him. “D’you think Harley’s going to come to our birthday party?”

“Why wouldn’t he?”

“Because if Daddy’s mad and he’s not mad at one of us, then—”

“Why is Daddy always mad at Bubba?” Morgan piped up as she started putting her toys back into their boxes.

“I don’t know,” Gigi sighed as she helped.

Peter shook his head. “Sometimes Dad gets upset when he’s actually just worried.”

“Maybe we should call him after supper?” Gigi suggested.

Morgan looked excited at that. “I miss Bubba!”

“We all do,” he told her closing one of the boxes. “I’m sure he misses us too.”

“If we call him and tell him we miss him, he’ll come, right?” their baby sister looked so hopeful that when he shared a look with Gwen, Peter didn’t have the heart to tell her that sometimes it didn’t work that way.

“Sure, Morg. That’s exactly how it works.”

 

They ended up video calling Harley from the garage where they’d snuck down to while their parents did work. It wasn’t so much that they weren’t allowed to call their brother—that would’ve been stupid, but they didn’t want to be overheard. Sometimes siblings just needed to talk to each other.

“Bubba!” Morgan grinned brightly when their big brother picked up.

“Hey baby girl,” Harley answered, his face lighting up.

Pete thought their brother looked _really_ tired. “Hey bro, how’s college?”

“Fine,” but his heart didn’t look like it was in it.

Gwen frowned at that. “You okay, Bubba?”

“Yeah, yeah. I just miss you guys.”

“We miss you too!” Morgan chimed in. “We’re sorry Daddy was angry at you.”

“Morgan!” Peter chastised. “Sorry, Dad was a bit—”

“He was pissed off most of the night even if he was hiding it,” Gwen informed Harley. “What the hell happened?”

“Uhg,” Harley rolled his eyes. “You know Dad. He was just mad about Bianca, as usual.”

Pete couldn’t help his own eye-roll. “He’s really getting worked up over nothing.”

“Who’s Bianca?” Morgan asked looking at them curiously.

“Bubba’s friend,” Gwen saved quickly. “And Daddy sometimes gets a little over-protective about who we can be friends with and its annoying.”

“Daddy doesn’t want you to have a friend,” their little sister frowned. “That’s not nice.”

“It’s not great,” Harley agreed. “It’ll be okay, Morg. Dad’s just worried, I think.”

Peter found himself nodding.

The conversation changed directions to what they were doing at school and what they had control over for the party. There wasn’t anything new at school, Gwen had learned that she technically had enough credits to graduate at the end of the academic year and was trying to figure out how to convince their parents to let her go to college early.

“You have to help me out,” she told her siblings imploringly.

Pete shook his head. “I’m sure if you talk to mom it’ll be fine.”

“But that means you’ll go away too,” Morgan sounded upset.

“I’ll be back to visit a lot,” Gigi told her seriously. “More than Bubba. I promise.”

“Hey!”

“Well you _haven’t_ come visit in a while,” he told his brother amusedly.

“It’s been busy over here, and I only skipped like one weekend. Come _on_!”

“We’re teasing,” Gwen smiled. “But seriously, you have to help me convince them.”

“I think Pete’s right,” Harley told her encouragingly. “Talk to Mom.”

 

Their conversation with Harley lasted until their brother proclaimed he needed to actually get some work done, and Gwen slid herself back under her car for the night. At least, until their parents came down and forced them off to bed.

That ended up happening around 8:30 since Morgan was hiding out with them.

“Alright you three, bedtime,” their dad said only a little seriously.

“Five more minutes?” Morg tried.

“Half an hour?” Peter teased from where he sat at one of the work benches with experimental webfluid he’d snuck out of the lab and into the garage.

Gwen didn’t even say anything, she just slid further under the car until only the bottoms of her shoes were visible.

“It’s a weeknight, it’s bedtime,” he reiterated, a little more firmly this time. “We should all at least _try_ to sleep.”

“We’re sixteen now,” Peter argued; he and Gigi had had their small family celebration two nights ago, followed by their driving test the next afternoon—his sister _really_ wanted to drive to their party herself. “Doesn’t that mean we get a better bedtime?”

“We don’t _have_ a bedtime,” Gigi argued from under the car. “Besides, I’m almost done.”

“Oh you _definitely_ have a bedtime,” Tony said seriously. “Upstairs, n—”

Gwen rolled her skateboard out from under the car and sat up to look at their dad. “Fifteen more minutes, Daddy, please?”

Peter knew they’d won the moment their dad sighed. “Fine. Fifteen minutes, but all three of you are upstairs in exactly fifteen minutes or you’re grounded. Got it?”

“Yes, Boss,” they all saluted and went back to what they were doing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some serious drama is on its way so beware! Probably within the next week or two.  
> Please let me know what you think, the comments are all that really get these chapters written sometimes.


	29. Invitations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter asks MJ to the party and the older Stark kids have another video call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus early chapter because I’m sick!  
> Also drama doesn’t hit the fan yet, but it’s brewing.  
> This is a Peter centric chapter partly because while Petey will still be in most of the other chapters, we’re gonna delve a little deeper into Gwen and Harley for a bit.

** Chapter twenty-nine : Invitations **

 

Today was the day. 

It had to be; the party was tomorrow night. 

He just had to find a way to ask her without making a total fool of himself. 

“Petey,” Gigi poked him. “You literally just have to ask her. It’s gonna be fine.”

“I’m just  _ nervous _ okay?”

“You need to work on more on your anxiety in therapy,” his sister grumbled.

“Well you need to work on—on your—self in therapy,” he shot back.

“Great comeback, kid,” Happy snorted from the front. “Alright you two, get outta my car.”

“It’s actually Daddy’s car, but whatever,” Gwen pointed out as she opened the door.

“Cut back on the attitude, Girl Kid.”

“Sorry,” she didn’t sound sorry at all. “Come on Pete.”

“Bye Happy,” he waved and followed his sister out.

“Okay here’s the plan,” Gigi turned to him seriously. “I’m gonna distract Ned, you pull MJ aside and ask her. Got it?”

“Right but how are you going to distract Ned? He’s—“

“Easily distractable.”

_ Right. _ “Right.”

“Just focus on how you’re going to ask her, okay?”

“Yeah okay, I can do that.”

As it turned out, he didn’t have a whole lot of time to focus on anything. As soon as they walked into the school, they spotted MJ and Ned talking and waiting for them.

_Oh sugar._

“Showtime,” his sister whispered before walking up to their friends. “Hey, let’s go hang out in the band room before class starts.”

“You’re early,” MJ said, but she started walking towards the band room anyway. 

“It’s been known to happen,” Gigi told her mock-seriously. “Especially with party preparations.”

Ned grinned broadly and started asking questions right away. “So are you guys excited for your party? Is there a theme? Are we supposed to do anything as your best friends? Did you decide on if you’re driving Peter? What about—“

Peter wished he could keep up with his best friend’s interrogation, but he was freaking out. What if she said no? What if she laughed in his face? What if she was morally opposed to—him? Oh  _ god _ _,_ what if she said  _ yes _ _?_ Maybe he should back out.

No. 

There was no maybe about it. He should  _ definitely _ back out. He didn’t have enough experience to do this. He had to communicate that to Gwen before—

Too late. “Hey Ned, could you help me pick out which selfie I should post to my insta?”

Ned threw his arm around Gwen’s shoulder. _“_ _ Gurl _ _,_ you know I gotchu. I’m a master when it comes to the gram.”

His sister sent him a withering look that clearly said:  _ if you don’t do this now, I’m going to throw you off the Empire State Building _ without  _ your suit. _

They were all only a couple of steps away from the band room door.

He was out of options.

_ Shit. _

“Hey, you two uh—do that, we’ll be in the band room. You catch up,” he said as casually as possible before hurrying to the door. 

MJ, thankfully, was right on his heels, but as soon as the door shut she whirled around to face him.

“Peter what is going  _ on _ with you?”

 _What?_ “What? Nothing.”

“Don’t  do  that! Something isn’t okay. You’re chewing holes in your sweater sleeves, you’re not answering questions right in class, you’re always busy patrolling, you’re acting  weird !”

“It’s not—“

“Peter are you on  _drugs_ ?”

“What?! No! Why does everyone keep thinking that? I’m just trying to ask you out to my stupid birthday party and everyone keeps thinking I’m on drugs!”

“You’re what?”

_Oh. Oh_ _no_.

“Well, um, I wanted to—“ _real smooth Peter_ . “Would you be my date tomorrow night for—uh, my party?”

“Oh,” he looked up just in time to see MJ look down in an attempt to hide the blush rising to her cheeks. “Y-yeah, of course.”

“Oh okay, great.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

 

 _ “ _ _That’s_   how that went down?!” Gigi complained hours later while they were on video call with Harley.

“Shhhh! You’ll wake mom and dad!” Peter threw a pillow at her; they were in Gwen’s bedroom with the lights barely on, pretending to be asleep.

“Or Morg,” Harley said, but Peter could see that he was having a hard time keeping a straight face even from just watching the precariously balanced laptop on the bed. “Seriously? She thought you were on drugs?”

“Apparently I need to work on my anxiety symptoms or something,” he complained, but there was no real heat to it; he’d always been an anxious kid, at least people cared about him.

“Well, I knew she’d say yes,” Gigi told him with an air of authority.

_ “ How _ could you know that?” Harley shot back. 

“Mom took me, MJ and Betty shopping, remember? We all picked out dresses and shoes and stuff. MJ got a blue one that matches Pete’s suit.”

“But she doesn’t know what color my suit is,” he argued. 

“No, but she knows what color your Spider-Man suit is—it’s the same blue.”

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Harley said matter-of-factly.

“Because you know so much about women?” Their sister raised an eyebrow at the screen.

Harley held up both hands in a surrender motion.

“But shopping was like two weeks ago,” he remembered suddenly.

“It was,” his sister confirmed. “And I’ve been  _telling_   _you_ that she wouldn’t say no for like two weeks, haven’t I?”

“Whatever,” it was better than admitting she was right. “So you’re coming right, Bubba?”

Harley rolled his eyes. “Yes, Pete, I’m gonna be there. I promised, remember?”

“Yeah, but you had a fight with Daddy today,” Gigi voiced what Peter hadn’t been brave enough to admit. 

“Just because I had a fight with Tony, doesn’t mean I’m not coming to your birthday, okay?”

“And now you’re calling him ‘Tony’,” he couldn’t stop himself from saying. 

Harley shook his head. “Just because I fight with  _ Dad _ _,_ doesn’t mean I’m not going to be there for you, okay?”

“Okay,” Peter agreed, he felt the tightness in his chest he hadn’t even realized was there loosen. “Yeah, okay.”

“I’m glad you’re coming,” Gwen told their brother sincerely. “We miss you.”

“I miss you too, lots.”

Peter opened his mouth to add something, but was interrupted by a knock on Gwen’s bedroom door. 

“It’s one in the morning,” their dad’s voice sounded through the wood. “Get off the phone and go to sleep, it’s a big day tomorrow. You too, Bambino.”

All three of them rolled their eyes as they heard him walk away.

“It  _is_ late though,” their big brother sighed. “You two have school, I just need to catch a plane.”

“Fine,” Gigi sighed and flopped down on her mattress dramatically. “Pete, you bunking over or..?”

His room across the hall suddenly felt kind of far away and lonely. 

Huh, maybe his anxiety  _was_ acting up a little.

He shrugged. “Yeah I’ll stay. Night, Harley.”

“Night guys,” their brother gave them a smile before ending the call.

Gigi closed the laptop and stuck it on the nightstand.

“Excited for tomorrow?” he asked quietly as the lights came all the way down.

“Kind of, nervous too,” his sister answered in the darkness.

“Nervous?  _ You? _ But you love the press!”

“I don’t  _love_ them,” she snorted. “I just think you can either spend all that energy hating them or just have fun with it. They want a show, you know? Might as well give them one.”

“I guess. Why are you nervous?”

“There are going to be lots of people.”

“There’s always lots of people,” he pointed out.

“Maybe I’m just scared Harley and Daddy won’t get along tomorrow.”

“I’m scared of that too.”

“It’ll be okay though, right?”

“I think so,” he paused. “I mean, they both love us and they want us to have a good time. I don’t think they’ll actually get mad at each other tomorrow.”

“Maybe—you—you don’t think they’ll—“ his sister took a breath. “Our family is going to be okay right?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he told her even though he wasn’t sure. “I think it is.”

“Good.”

“Night Gigi.”

“Night Pete.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it!  
> As always, no guarantees for a Monday/Tuesday update, but I’ll do my best!


	30. Chapter Thirty: The Birthday Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the birthday party!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so begins the drama, which will come to a head in the next chapter.   
> Also to everyone worrying about the drama, I promise everything will be okay. It might just take us in unexpected places first.

**Chapter Thirty: The Birthday Party**

“I just don’t think she should start early, Pepper,” Tony said as he glared at the road from behind the wheel of his orange Audi.

His wife sighed. “Well, I think her request has some merit. She’s bored in high school, Tony. Maybe we can find a compromise?”

“I don’t like it. She shouldn’t go to MIT early,” _not like me._

“I think she _should_ start college early and so do her teachers,” she pointed out.

“Peter isn’t starting early.”

“Gwen and Peter aren’t the same person; they’re not even real twins.”

Damn Pepper and her logic.

She continued, “I don’t think Gwen likes high school as much as Peter does.”

“What? Why wouldn’t she?”

Pepper sighed.

He knew that sigh, it meant he wasn’t seeing the obvious. Again.

“Tony, Gwen doesn’t have the same attachment to the high school as Peter does. She might want to find her own place to fit in.”

“Well, that’s not college.”

“You don’t know that,” she argued. “She’s not a little girl, Tony. And if she’s unhappy, then it’s our job as her parents to help her move forward and be happy.”

_She’s_ our _little girl_ , he wanted to yell. Instead he continued glaring at the road.

“We can table it for now,” Pepper conceded. “Let’s have a good night, okay?”

Tony forced his shoulders back and took a breath to alleviate the tension he’d been holding on to. “Yeah, let’s have a good time, Pep.”

It was almost eight thirty, and Peter and Gwen’s birthday party gala had kicked off around eight. They were all showing up fashionably late, of course. He and Pepper were arriving first in his favorite car as a way to introduce the public to the idea of their family coming into the spotlight again. As much as they’d have liked to keep the media attention away, it wasn’t something they could truly fight.

Unfortunately, the whole day leading up to the party hadn’t gone particularly smoothly. The Peter and Gwen had been late for school, properly late—a good twenty minutes—Morgan had had another meltdown about her outfit, and then around eleven Tony had had another row with Harley over the phone.

_That_ had been a bad choice on his part, he knew.

By the time the twins had gotten home from school and started to prepare for the evening, everyone was resolutely not talking about their eldest son’s absence. The kid should have arrived at four, but he hadn’t shown up and was ignoring Tony’s calls.

He hadn’t been able to really talk to Pepper about it, either. She had come home from the office at two and glared at him before telling him that she had sorted it out and Harley would be there because he was coming for his siblings.

Things had been tense after that.

Tony still hadn’t seen hide nor hair of his eldest.

And then, Gwendolyn had decided that the perfect time to spring her decision to graduate early on them was forty minutes before everyone needed to start leaving.

_If I’m old enough to decide to drop out, then I’m old enough to decide to graduate early,_ she had stated matter-of-factly when he had shot down the idea.

That had led to another disagreement with Pepper, which was why they were running a little later than just fashionably.

Pepper was right that Gwen was different from Peter, but Tony didn’t want his kids going to college early. He knew first hand how hard that was.

“It’s just been one thing after another today, hasn’t it?” Pepper said softly as he pulled the car into position by the carpet.

He turned to look at her. “Yeah, it really has.”

She smiled at him the way he loved, the way that made the whole world stop for a minute, and said, “Let’s have a good time. No tension, no worries.”

“Yeah,” Tony leaned over and pressed his lips to her world-stopping smile. “I love you.”

“I love you too. Now, go—you have to open my door,” she grinned playfully.

“Yes ma’am.”

The assault of camera flashes and cries for his attention were a surprise for only half a moment, but Tony found himself grateful for his glasses that tinted and helped with the glare and his hidden earbuds that helped parse the chatter.

_“Mr. Stark!”_

_“Mr. Stark, how does it feel to be back?”_

_“Mr. Stark, will your children be joining us tonight?”_

_God they’re tiring_ , he thought dryly as he walked around the car to open Pepper’s door.

A whole new wave of clamouring and questions and camera flashes started when she stepped out in her gorgeous deep blue gown. Tony was always partial to the color on her.

He tossed the keys easily to the valet with a quick. “No joy rides.”

The younger man looked stricken as he caught the keys with some difficulty. “N-no Mr. Stark, sir.”

Tony snorted and offered his arm to Pepper.

“Be nice,” she reprimanded quietly.

It was exactly the way he knew it would be; red carpet with velvet rope keeping the vultures away as high profile guests arrived. There were lots of other celebrities present, he and Pepper couldn’t very well host a party and not invite everyone and their great aunt Murielle.

Apparently.

God, he was in a bad mood.

_Suck it up, Stark. It’s for your kids. You’re a father, act like one._

Pepper was smiling and radiating ease in the spotlight. Tony did his best to do the same as they walked by reporters and posed for pictures, but he didn’t really pay attention when Pepper stopped once or twice to answer a question or other.

_“Mr. Stark, please, who are you wearing tonight?”_ a male reporter called out from the front of the crowd when they were about halfway towards the doors.

He wouldn’t have answered, but the ‘please’ got him; Peter and his manners had started making him soft for polite strangers—even ones wearing weird purple plaid suits and carrying an actual notebook and pencil; what year was this guy in?

Tony flashed his media smile and felt himself grow more confident; this was a role he knew how to play. “The suit’s _Achille Morel_ , actually. Clever guy, good taste in wine, great taste in suits.”

He allowed himself to answer a few easy questions, but kept Pepper close by. He was on edge and she had a way of keeping him grounded by just existing. In fact, Pepper’s presence was the only reason Tony didn’t promptly lose his cool when he heard the motorcycle pull in.

It was a sleek black Harley Davidson with a loud engine and a decal of Captain America’s shield on the side. Tony _would_ have found the display offensive anywhere, but it was particularly offensive given who the rider was.

Harley hopped off the bike with ease, pulling his green and black helmet off a little dramatically for Tony’s taste. The reporters and photographers went wild as he stood there in his matching bike leathers.

_“Harley are you here for the party?”_

_“Is that your bike, Harley?”_

_“Where are you coming from?”_

The kid just grinned and threw a couple of smiles at people while running a hand through his hair in what Tony assumed was a vain hope of fixing it from the disheveled state it was in. Harley handed the helmet and keys to the bike to the valet with what looked like a stern warning before making his way towards him and Pepper.

He didn’t really stop along the way and was with them in moments.

“ _What_ do you think you’re—” he ground out grabbing his son’s arm whilst trying not to look like he was about to murder him in public.

Harley rolled his eyes and shrugged him off roughly before turning to Pepper and saying somewhat loudly and pointedly, “Hi Mom, it’s great to see you. It’s been a long time and I missed you.”

Pepper beamed at their son and gave him a quick hug, then turned them both for pictures as Tony schooled his expression.

“I missed you too, sweetheart.”

“Will Happy be here soon with my clothes?” his son said whilst shooting him a look.

_Oh._ Harley had spoken to Pepper about his arrival.

Tony felt something heavy land on his chest.

Still, showing up on a motorcycle in February, regardless of how good the road conditions were was dangerous. Before he could voice that thought, however, another car pulled up—which made sense since they had decided to stagger their arrivals.

Peter’s black Audi had arrived and Tony felt a surge of pride as his younger son stepped from the car in his Spider-Man blue three-piece suit and smart-glasses—Peter’s noise blocking earbuds no doubt hidden under his curls that he’d chosen not to gel on account of MJ liking his natural hair. The birthday boy handed the keys to the valet and stepped around to open the door and reveal his date for the evening. Peter was the perfect gentleman as he offered MJ his hand; she was wearing a pretty dress—a favorite designer of Pepper’s Tony thought—that matched Peter’s suit.

“Matching set, huh?” Harley chuckled from beside him and started walking back towards Peter.

Ned and Betty had also emerged from the car, both of them dressed to the nines—and apparently dating again, given their hand-holding. Ned’s hat was completely out of place, but Tony knew from Peter that there was no way to explain that to the other kid without completely shattering him.

Harley was halfway to his brother in no time and even from where he was standing with Pepper, Tony could see and hear the joy on his younger son’s face as he dropped MJ’s hand and darted up the carpet.

“Harley!”

“Pete!”

The brotherly hug would surely grace many a tabloid cover the next day. More so, given that his sons were keeping their heads together as they led MJ, Ned, and Betty towards them.

“You all look so great,” Pepper told the kids when they got to them and started moving towards the entrance again. “You guys might have to go inside without us, though. The media will want some family pictures.”

“Of course,” Betty nodded.

MJ smiled. “That makes sense. This _is_ to get them to stop complaining that they don’t have enough content on you guys, isn’t it?”

_Smart girl_ , Tony thought.

Ned didn’t say anything, but that was because the boy had actually been rendered speechless at how overwhelming actually walking the carpet to an event could be.

“Alright there, Ted?”

“It’s _Ned_ , Dad,” Peter corrected with a glare.

“He knows,” Pepper told their son amusedly, but swatted Tony on the arm regardless.

Ned, as it were, just nodded.

_“It’s Captain America!”_ a voice shouted.

Sure enough, Steve, Nat, and Wanda were walking up the carpet. They were decked out in black, red and blue—Tony wasn’t surprised, although he wasn’t sure which of the three of them thought it would be fun to wear Captain America colours. It was subtle, but to the trained eye it was obvious that they’d matched.

_Spangles must be happy_ , Tony thought as his friends approached; matching outfits was old fashioned enough of an idea to appeal to Steve.

“Hey Tony,” Steve grinned when they were close enough.

“Rogers,” he clapped his friend on the shoulder, but suddenly realized something. “Where’s Morgan?”

“Happy said she wasn’t coming with us. We thought she was already here.” Tasha told him frowning, but she turned to Harley. “Happy said to meet him inside when you want your change of clothes.”

“Thanks Aunty Tash.”

Tony felt his blood pressure spike as he turned to Pepper who looked a little worried herself. “Okay, but Morgan _isn’t_ here—”

He was interrupted by the sound of Pink!’s _Raise your Glass_.

_We will never be never be, anything but loud_ _  
And nitty gritty, dirty little freaks_

Gwen’s black _Alfa Romeo_ pulled into the spot a car had just vacated, the top was down and the pink undercarriage lights were on. His eldest daughter was behind the wheel jamming out openly, her smart glasses on and tinted vibrant pink. Morgan— _Morgan_ was wearing reflective smart glasses and raising a pink smoothie over her head from her booster in the _passenger_ seat and dancing along.

“Oh there she is,” Peter grinned.

Harley shaking in an effort to control his laughter.

Tony watched in abject horror as Gwendolyn stepped from the convertible and shut the door, she came around as Morgan hopped out and handed her the smoothie. A valet came over and by the looks of it was asking for the keys, the music was still blaring as Gwen shook her head and took a sip of the smoothie her sister had just given her then handed it to the valet.

Morgan took Gwen’s hand, and his older daughter clicked a button on her keys and the music faded out as the car drove itself away. They pushed their glasses up onto their heads and waved before smiling at photographers and making their way up to them.

The boys walked ahead and met them halfway.

“Tony, are you okay?” Pepper asked as she pulled at his arm for them to walk towards their children in the middle of the carpet.

_“Who are you wearing tonight, Ms. Stark?”_ the same purple suited reporter was asking when they got there.

“Oh, the dress is _Duvais_ , but the shoes,” Gwendolyn grinned and showed off her intricate strappy sandal heels with pink tinted rhinestones. “The shoes are _Renata Carlo_.”

“And she’s in _love_ with them,” Morgan said whilst kicking her black mary-janes from her perch in Harley’s arms—he had picked her up as soon as he had finished hugging Gwen.

“They were a gift from my brothers,” Gwen told the fashion challenged reporter with a grin. “Peter has an eye for color he’ll never admit to.”

“I really don’t,” Peter rolled his eyes but kept his arm around his sister.

_“Can we get a picture of you Iron Kids?”_ a photographer called from a little further off.

“Oh yeah,” Harley grinned and turned to face the woman who had asked. “We can do that.”

Peter stood next to his brother and Gwen beside him, and although he was at the wrong angle, Tony could see that all four kids held up ‘peace’ signs for the photo.

_“Mrs. Stark, can we get a family photo?”_

“We’ll be doing that just as soon as we get all together,” Pepper told the person who had asked as she continued to move them towards their children.

As soon as they reached the children, however, the only thing Tony could think to say was, “Morgan should have been in the back.”

Gwendolyn blinked at him blankly for a full beat before it dawned on her. “Daddy, it’s a two seater, there _is no back_.”

“It’s dangerous,” he frowned.

“I adjusted the car for her height and her seat is military grade safe,” his teenaged daughter frowned right back at him. “You’d think I was being unsafe and putting my sister’s life in danger with the way you’re talking.”

Before he said anything else, however, Gwen turned away and smiled at the cameras again.

“We need to take a family picture,” Peter said quickly, Tony thought his voice sounded a little strained, but the kid was smiling so it was probably just his imagination.

“Right, let’s do that,” he nodded.

They all walked towards the door and posed for a few pictures. Morgan ended up being passed around in order to remain in frame given how tall the rest of the family was—Gwen’s five inch heels brought her height up significantly from her original five foot three.

“Everyone ready for a good time?” Pepper asked they finally moved into the foyer of the venue.

“Yeah, so excited,” Harley said flatly whilst giving Tony a wide berth.

“Sure, did Uncle Happy bring my bag?” Morgan asked already intent on getting her hands on her tablet again.

“Well it _is_ our birthday,” Gwen grinned as she nudged Peter, but her smile didn’t seem to reach her eyes.

“It’ll be fun,” Peter agreed.

Tony couldn’t help but feel like _something_ was off from the way Pepper looked at him as the kids dispersed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked it! There's a lot of tension, but don't worry, no lasting damage will occur...probably ;)


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